


Gravity Falls Gets a Resident Necromancer

by shjwlove



Category: Corpse Bride (2005), Gravity Falls, ParaNorman (2012)
Genre: Dipper and Norman are complete dorks, Dipper is an angsty person and a lightweight and Norman doesn't know how to handle emotions, Dipper jumps to way too many conclusions, Emily is an artist, I adjusted her story just a bit for the sake of making it more relatable to the others, M/M, Mabel and Coraline are dating, Mabel ships them hard, Norman is OOC along with Dipper cause I'm shit at writing on character, Norman is a tattoo artist, Parapines, Probably will get kinda smutty, Smut has occured, and even though bill is "gone" he still messes with Dipper sometimes, first fic, im back!, moderate build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2018-08-21 17:37:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8254561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shjwlove/pseuds/shjwlove
Summary: When Norman moves to Gravity Falls he was expecting to be treated much like he was in Blithe Hollow. However upon meeting Mabel and Dipper, he realizes that other people have had their share of experiences as well. When Normans work starts to overlap with the Pines, they can't help but wonder what other secrets the others have been hiding, while Dipper and Norman struggle with mutual feelings for each other that they can't tell the other. I'm bad at writing summaries haha.





	1. Norman Arrives

“Norman, I know we’ve had this conversation before…” his mom, Sandra, started hesitantly while his father, Perry sat in the other room calling over that they’d had it multiple times, “but I want you to try hard to make friends when we move. I know its been rough on you the last few years, so we decided to change towns, get away from some of your troubles.” Norman glanced between where his fathers voice had come from and his mom, who stood in front of him with a look that suggested she felt pity for him. He grunted in response, knowing that dragging out conversation would just result in embarrassment.

            “Maybe tattoos at your age in Gravity Falls will be a….normal thing.” Sandra spoke again not having picked up on Norman’s near unwillingness to have the conversation. It was moments like these that he wished Courtney was still in town. After having gone off to college she started life away from Blithe Hollow, messaging Norman whenever she could to make sure he was fine. Mostly they talked about his developing abilities. His job as a medium had taken a turn from moderately difficult to almost impossible after Aggie finally moved on. A few years had passed, and at the age of 15 was when things got even worse. Spirits asked to be brought back to see their loved ones, or their descendants, and at first the requests confused Norman, until he accidentally created a zombie. Luckily it was his grandmother and not a random ghost he’d seen in town, but it still shocked the hell out of him. He’d gone to visit her grave, as he’d done more frequently than before now that he had his own means of transportation to the cemetery. He’d been thinking about how great it would be to see her again, alive at least. That was when the clouds gathered over the town, in much the same way it did the night Aggie returned, and the ground broke open revealing his deceased grandmother, crawling out of it.

            “Granny…what’s going on?” Norman asked, hoping that he wouldn’t have to take down another ghost with supernatural abilities.

            “You brought me back, you made it so that I could come back.” Her voice came, more in his head than from her mouth.

            “Like Agatha…” He spoke, running a hand through his hair, which was more under control than it was when he was 12, but still spiked on the top of his head.

            “You’ve changed so much Norman, its no surprise that your abilities got stronger. You know, your uncle never accepted his abilities until he was older, and they never progressed like yours have. You might have also gotten them from that young girls spirit. She was strong, like you are.” His grandmother explained. It wasn’t long however before she started to deteriorate more, leading Norman to believe that if he didn’t keep up with maintaining her form she would return to that of a decaying corpse. He allowed her to return to her grave, and from that day until he turned 18 he practiced his control, never letting it slip that he was a necromancer.

            “I know that this will be hard, you’ll be leaving Neil, but this will be a great chance at a fresh start, you know, away from the craziness of this town.” Sandra spoke, pulling Norman out of his thoughts. After that day he’d spoken to his grandmother, his abilities expanded one more time, allowing him to manipulate the earth and lightning around him. It was strange, however Aggie was able to do so albeit after she’d passed on, she must have given those abilities to him as well. He’d never told anyone about them, not even his sister. He couldn’t risk looking any more like a freak to people.

            “We also felt this was a good opportunity for you to learn what it was like to live on your own.” Sandra continued, her voice sounding even more hesitant than when she first told him they were moving.

            “What do you mean, live on my own?” Norman questioned, having his attention called back to her.

            “We got you an apartment, you know, alone. We felt that with you being old enough, we wanted you to see what it would be like to live alone, take care of things on your own. We will be in town with you of course, but it’s a great chance for you!” Sandra explained, putting her hands, hesitantly, on his shoulders. They had to be joking. Pulling his leg or something. Not that he hadn’t ever thought of moving out on his own, but this was way too sudden.

            “Just like that?!” He burst out, realizing that he’d snapped at his mom.

            “Norman! You don’t talk back like that! This is a good opportunity for you to be normal! For you to actually fit in for once!” his father suddenly stood in the room, glowering up at him slightly. Since puberty he’d been taller than both his parents, not that they were very tall people but he knew he’d gotten his genes from his grandparents.

            “This is our final decision Norman, it was hard on us too you know. We didn’t want to leave town, and we sure didn’t want you to leave us, but it’s about time you learned how.” Sandra finally put her foot down, leaving both Norman and his father to their own devices. Norman took the opportunity to go up to his room, mostly with the idea to pack and to sort through all of his stuff to get rid of all of the childish things he kept. Since growing older he’d decided he didn’t want to be labeled the zombie boy, and had gotten rid of most of the zombie related paraphernalia, also because he didn’t need posters to see the real thing. Since then his room had taken more of a goth black tone, and he’d changed his style to suit the needs. The tattoos were reminders, mostly that he would never actually be normal, no matter how much his parents wished he were, but also reminders of what he had done for others and how he had changed. Across his neck was a spider web. Not something his parents were very happy to see that he’d gotten, since he hadn’t told them he was doing it. It was a symbol that he was always caught in the web of the unknown. A feeling he’d come to know and despise over the years. On the back of his hands were eyes, that represented the evil eyes. Of course most people didn’t know the meaning, and had assumed he was even creepier for it.

            Around his wrists were tattoos of barbed wire. The reason was that he was usually trapped within his own profession, unable to get away from his own life. The tattoos that ran up his arms were that of ghosts and some zombies, mostly fake representations of them, considering he would never put someone on the spot as to tattoo them onto his arms, but he wanted to show that he’d taken care of some people to get them to pass on. Under his collarbone was the only name he’d ever put on his body, Aggie. It was written in scrolling script, and his most recent tattoo. He wanted to immortalize her on his body, a constant reminder of how he got to where he was. Norman never usually got the tattoos because he liked the designs. They suited a function for him, but no one ever understood that. On his back, in a different writing than the name, were the words “Ab Aeterno Ab Antiquo Ab Extra” which was written in Latin, saying “From the eternal, from the ancient, and from the beyond”. This was his way of acknowledging that his abilities were long time coming, and that he didn’t know life without them. Neil stood by him for a while with these decisions, having bloomed into a healthy and more popular young man through high school, however he disagreed with Norman’s methods.

            “If you like it so much, just put it on a necklace…you know, something less permanent?” He’d suggested one day, as they walked home from a lunch outing. Their friendship was one of the only that Norman had, aside from the random remarks from Alvin as they passed each other. It took Neil a long time to recover from what happened that night many years ago, and while Norman gave him time, it seemed he still had issues even years later. Norman took out his phone and sent a quick text his friends way, telling him of the latest news of the move. Norman couldn’t believe that his family was still putting him on the spot like that, leaving him to fend for himself in an entirely new town. To make matters worse, he’d have to get used to the spiritual energy of that town, new ghosts, and new people to place their judgment on him. It was going to suck.

 **They are letting you live on your own?! How cool is that! My parents still want me living with them…not that I really mind I don’t have to get a job to pay rent yet.** Neil responded rather quickly, not seeing Norman’s reason for not wanting to live alone.

 **No man, not cool. They don’t give me a warning, and on top of that, its new ghosts! The one’s in this town know not to invade my house, the ones from this new place…they won’t know that!** Norman responded, before returning to packing the latest box with his SCIFI books. They were the one thing he kept in his room zombie related. That was how it was going to stay as well.

 **Ohhhhh, I kinda get it? Maybe it won’t suck? Maybe they’ll just, you know, hear you out!** Neil responded again, always somewhat optimistic at least for Norman’s sake.

 **Maybe.** Was all Norman could think to respond with, and the conversation was dropped.

            Within days the packing was finished, and the trip over to Gravity Falls was on its way. He’d decided to load his bike onto a trailer and tow it rather than ride it, due to the length of the trip. Almost immediately Norman realized the town was very nearly the same as Blithe Hollow. Small town, small tight knit community, and very normal people. Almost as soon as they arrived, Norman left the moving in to the people his parents had called and grabbed his Harley to find the nearest cemetery. His presence would call the ghosts towards him, he knew it, and thus he wanted to make his arrival, and announcement only once.

            “To the ghosts of Gravity Falls. I will only tell you once. You are not to enter my home. You are not to invade my private space. If you would like help, find me out in public, but don’t expect me to answer to you right away. I will find an alleyway or something similar before we speak. I do want to help, don’t get me wrong, but I want it to be on my terms.” He spoke, his voice clear so that all of the specters could understand him. Many just nodded and disappeared, some thanked him for his wanting to help them, and the rest just wandered off, not having really acknowledged him. It hadn’t taken Norman long to find his way back into town, it was a similar layout to how Blithe Hollow was, but signs for a Mystery Shack, out in the woods caught his attention. In a bought of random and spontaneous curiosity, and after he’d already finished helping move some of his furniture into the new apartment, which he had to admit was nicer than he’d thought it would be, he hopped onto the bike again and drove off towards the signs. It was easy to follow, and the trip through the woods was actually nice and relaxing, but when he arrived at the shack, chaos erupted.

 

Dipper POV

            Well, thats a first, Dipper thought as he jumped back from a swipe from a large hairy and overall terrifying beast. Out of all of the creatures he’d encountered from within Stanford’s journals, this was one of the most aggressive, and that was after adding in a better description of Bill.

            “Hey Mabel, you ready yet?!” Dipper shouted urgently to his twin sister, who darted behind the beasts back with her trusty, and oddly useful, leaf blower.

            “Ready Dipping Sauce!” She called back, a huge grin on her face. Her nicknames for him had never changed over the years, and as they got older, she seemed to use them more and more.

            “I told you not to call me that anymore! And GO!” He shouted, charging at the Yeti with all his strength, tackling it to the ground while Mabel used her leaf blower, set to reverse, to suck the talisman off of the creatures neck. In that moment it became very apparent that that was what was causing the Yeti to rampage, and they’d done their job to protect the cabin once again.

            “Do you think Grunkle Stan will pay us for this?” Mabel asked, waving the leaf blower around.

            “Does he pay anyone for anything?” Dipper muttered, mostly to himself, before standing back from the, previously perceived as mythical, creature.

            “What happened? How did I end up here?” It asked, its voice having changed from an enraged growl to a normal human sounding voice.

            “Uh, you got possessed by an evil talisman.” Dipper offered as explanation, which took the Yeti by surprise.

            “Oh fiddlesticks. That’s the second time that’s happened.” The Yeti slapped its leg, and then wandered back into the forest.

            “At least this one didn’t ask you to be its ‘Queen’.” Dipper threw the comment at Mabel who made a face at him before skipping off, probably to remove the talisman from her leaf blower.

            “Uh…should I come back another time?” A deep male voice asked from behind Dipper, who’s head shot up at the comment. He’d thought he made sure no one else was around for this fight, having lured the Yeti to the grounds with rude comments and threats to shave weird shapes on him. He turned around, ready to face whoever it was that hadn’t gone running at the sight of the struggle, but was shocked by what he saw. The person wasn’t someone from Gravity Falls, in fact Dipper had never seen anyone like this person in his life. The black hair that was spiked on top of his head, styled as neatly as possible, the tattoos that covered his arms and chest, and even his neck! His bright blue eyes that shown out from the sea of dark colors. His ears filled with hooks and studs, all black against his pale skin. He wore a dark grey V-neck t-shirt under a red sleeveless hoodie that was left open. He was tall and lean, but it was obvious that he was in good shape. Behind him was a Harley, with a helmet placed on the seat.

            “How much of that did you see?!” Dipper demanded, foregoing giving his name, or even an answer to the other man’s question. Said other person tilted his head slightly, and glanced over Dippers left shoulder briefly, before returning his gaze to Dipper. The question could have easily been answered if Dipper had tapped into the abilities Bill Cipher had accidentally left him with, but he’d always felt rude using them on other people.

            “Most of it. From what I can gather, Gravity Falls is not the most…normal place.” The man said, his voice rich, and deep but not overly so. It wasn’t like the story Dipper had told years ago about the voice changing tonic he’d gotten from Ol’ man McGucket. This mans voice was pleasant sounding, and not at all gimmicky. But the man flinched when saying normal, as if that word burned him.

            “You could say that…you know most people go running when they see something like that.” Dipper commented, feeling the tattoo on his arm itch to be used. It was what helped Dipper keep control over Bill’s latent abilities. The tattoo held the malicious intent away from Dippers own soul, however whenever he felt like he could tap into them, the tattoo flared up and itched like crazy.

            “I’ve seen horror movies.” The man shrugged, moving closer to the Mystery Hack. Grunkle Stan had yet to successfully fix the “S” on the sign, and so it continued to read “Hack” instead of shack. Mabel had just come back around the building to see this mystery man, and stopped dead in her tracks. Dipper was impressed, it usually took a lot to stop a charging Mabel, but this man had done it without doing anything at all.

            “Are you…a vampire?!” Mabel asked suddenly, stars in her eyes. Dipper could only respond with a groan, pinching the bridge of his nose between his eyes before stepping forward about to answer for the man but he just burst out laughing.

            “I can see why you thought that of me, but no. I’m human. Although based off of what I just saw, vampires are real?” He asked, looking like he’d never laughed as much in his life.

            “Well of course they’re real!” Mabel exclaimed proudly, while Dipper was amazed at how openly she’d admitted that. He’d tried to explain to her that many people would just never believe her. That people would think she was strange for still believing in “fairytales” even though both the pine twins lived in one. Apparently, she just never listened.

 

Norman’s POV

            That was not what Norman was expecting by going to the Mystery Shack. He realized that Gravity Falls was more like Blithe Hollow than he’d ever thought it would be, and if he’d gone here when he was younger he would have freaked out way more than he was. While it was alarming, that was certain, he figured he might get even the most miniscule of explanations out of the twins before him. It was obvious they were twins, based on their looks alone, but also how they acted around each other.

            “Why don’t you come in with us? You won’t have to pay if you do, our Grunkle Stan can be pretty stingy about money.” The girl grabbed his arm, before he could tell her not to, but quickly let go when she was shocked slightly. Its what happens when people grab him suddenly, they end up with a shock that felt like static electricity. He really couldn’t help it, as much as he wished he could. He didn’t have time to contemplate what a Grunkle was before she was talking again.

            “Whoa! You shocked me, can you do it again?” The girl asked, her hair frizzing out around her head.

            “Uh, no. That was static electricity. It happens after I ride my bike sometimes.” Norman lied, pulling the excuse out his ass.

            “Ohhh I get it.” She commented back, grabbing his arm again but disappointed by the lack of a shock. The boy behind Norman hadn’t said anything since his sister had returned to them, and he looked annoyed by everything going on.

            “If you don’t want me to come in I can leave. If I’m causing issues for you by being here I…” Norman trailed off as the spirit of what looked like a triangle appeared over the boys left shoulder once again. It was strange, because normally spirits took human like appearances, if they realized they could alter what they looked like at all, but this one was a triangle, with a little bowtie and a top hat, with only one eye. It waved at him silently then disappeared. The man must have thought Norman trailed off because he didn’t know how to explain why he would be an issue, because he just shook his head and sighed.

            “No, come in. We can’t just let you leave after what you just saw.” He spoke, shaking his head again. Norman nodded, taking in the sight of the strange boy. He looked normal, shorter than Norman was, but more muscular, with a small tuft of hair growing on his chin, a pageboy cap on his head that moved his curly hair out from underneath it. His eyes were brown, and he wore a green t-shirt with a red and black plaid jacket over it, with grey jeans with tears over the knees and red converse. The boy’s sister wore a blue patterned sweater, off one shoulder showing a tank top strap under it, with a purple skirt over her legs. Norman followed obediently, hoping more than anything that he could keep his secret hidden from these twins while finding out more about Gravity Falls.

            “Grunkle Stan! Stanford! We have a friend with us, so we’ll be using the room behind the bookshelf again!” She called into the shack, which had many weird things lined up on the walls and around the rooms. Norman couldn’t help but think it was all trying too hard to be weird, and it looked more fake than anything.

            “Alright. Introduction time! I’m Mabel! That grumpy pants over there is my twin brother Dipper! We are the Mystery Twins!” Mabel nearly shouted, throwing her arms into the air as if it were a show.

            “I’m not grumpy. I’m just…worried.” Dipper spoke, following behind them with much less enthusiasm. Norman stopped for a moment, glancing around at the space they’d taken to talk. It was obvious from the dust that it hadn’t been used in years.

            “Try and avoid the carpet, in all seriousness.” Dipper sighed, rolling it up as carefully as he could with rubber gloves on.

            “Oh just ignore him, he’s a worry-wart.” Mabel smiled again. Norman nodded before introducing himself.

            “I’m Norman Babcock, I just moved here from Blithe Hollow.” He spoke, putting his hand out for each of the twins to shake. Mabel did so with extreme enthusiasm, while Dipper did so hesitantly. When their hands met, a jolt of electricity ran through both of them, however Dipper frantically patted himself down immediately after. Mabel just laughed and pointed at the rolled up carpet.

            “I’ve heard of Blithe Hollow. Something weird happened some years ago that caused the town to fall apart. Were you there for that?” Dipper asked after a few seconds. Norman didn’t know how to respond at first, and as he opened his mouth to do so someone knocked on the door.

            “Hey guys, I was wondering if you wanted to go to a party at…Hey, whose the tattooed dude?” A girl with long red hair opened the door asking. Norman just glanced over her, realizing she looked similar to some of the girls from back home.

            “Wendy, this is Norman, he moved here from Blithe Hollow.” Mabel introduced them, while Dipper turned red in the face. Norman recognized that right away, knowing that he had a crush on this girl. Behind her however, was a sight he was hoping he wouldn’t have to deal with here. As soon as he made eye contact there was no helping it. The temperature of the room dropped, and immediately Dipper and Mabel caught onto it. The spirit realized that Norman had seen her, and immediately went over to him. This one hadn’t been at the cemetery, and hadn’t heard his talk about conversing in pubic.

            “OH! A necromancer, you know talk of the town was that one had finally shown up, but you never know it people are telling the truth. How are you sonny? Can you help me let my little grand daughter know that I’m watching over her?” The ghost asked, while Norman attempted to silently let her know he couldn’t help her right in that moment. Dipper and Mabel realized that Norman had gone silent, and was staring very intently in front of him, in the direction of Dipper but not at Dipper.

            “Whats wrong with him?” Wendy asked, waving her hand at him, but not getting a response. Norman knew he should just ignore the ghost, but realizing that he couldn’t get away without some sort of response, he nodded and the turned to Wendy.

            “Have you lost someone close to you recently?” It was the most innocent way he could think of to let her know about her grandmother being with her.

            “Yeah…how did you know?” Wendy spoke, her voice getting softer.

            “I’m very sorry for your loss. It was kind of a guess. I saw an obituary today and you looked like her. I’m sure she’s watching out for you, even as we speak.” Norman put his hand on her shoulder, never having sat down on the couch he was standing in front of.

            “Thanks…you’re kinda strange aren’t you.” Wendy stated, not really asking if he was but pointing it out. He nodded, with a shrug. It was easier to just get it over with rather than argue.

            “Thank you sonny. I can move on now, I have no regrets for this world.” Her grandmother disappeared then, and the temperature of the room rose once again.

            “That was…pretty strange. Do things like that happen to you a lot?” Dipper asked him.

            “I am from Blithe Hollow, and since that event years ago, you can say that my life has been a bit different.”


	2. When Interests Collide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper and Mabel get a glance at what Norman can do, and Norman gets a glance at how easily Dipper gets drunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to post this early because when I posted the first chapter this one was already done. I've just been reading it over for content. The next chapter will detail Dippers tattoos as well . BE WARNED, one of the brief characters I brought up in this chapter as a ghost references abuse and rape. It will not be explicitly said and it does not happen to a main character, details will be vague, but it is there. This is the only time any references to rape will be made in my fic.

It didn’t take long for Norman to realize a few things about the Pines twins. The first was that their last name was Pines, not Mystery. The second, was that if left to their own devices for too long, trouble seemed to find them, like a magnet. It wasn’t long that they were in that room before a man chasing a pig went through and plowed everyone over, before leaving again.

            “That was just Soos and Waddles, they are best friends!” Mabel laughed, picking herself up off the floor. Norman could only nod, and come to another realization. Nothing surprised these twins anymore, they’d seen many things apparently, and solved a lot of mysteries, hence their nickname. Norman felt like his secret wouldn’t be looked down on with them, but he still wasn’t going to open up and tell them about it outright, they just met that day and the twins hadn’t explained anything yet.

            “Speaking of strange, what was that outside? I’d never seen anything like it before…” He asked, getting the twins attentions back to what occurred that made them bring him inside.

            “Well, its hard to explain. How weren’t you surprised? I know you said that you’ve seen horror movies, but that would still scare off people, because this isn’t a horror movie!” Dipper tried to get Norman to explain again, while avoiding answering Normans question.

            “It’s difficult to surprise me, lets put it that way. Now, what happened?” Both boys were being as vague in answering as possible, and Mabel started to get ideas from the two of them. Her brother loved puzzles, even if they frustrated the hell out of him, and the man standing in Dippers room was definitely puzzling.

            “You like mysteries.” She said to Dipper, who just gave her a bewildered look and nodded.

            “You are a mystery.” She stated at Norman, who realized that to them, and most people in town, he was. But he still questioned if he was to her.

            “What’s happening here?!” She asked both of them, a huge grin on her face as she rotated her fingers around each other.

            “Mabel!” Dipper snapped, his ear bright red at the implication, whereas Norman’s face had probably lit up like a Christmas tree. He’d thought that Dipper was attractive, and even though he’d tried to go for manly in his look, Norman just saw cute.

            “Excuse me. I don’t believe we were flirting. I’d just like answers please.” Norman interrupted, schooling his features to serious ones once again, and hoping to deviate away from that conversation. Norman had had one relationship in his life, one that he wasn’t overly fond of discussing. It had been a transfer student from out of town, and he was just like Norman. Kyle didn’t fit in anywhere, he didn’t click with other people, and that worked for both of them. It was perfect until Kyle figured out Norman’s secret, and turned tail and ran. It hurt Norman deeply, and he didn’t want someone to go through that with him again. Dipper’s face fell slightly, but he cleared his throat and turned to Mabel.

            “We keep the peace of the forest, alongside our Great Uncle Stanford. We make sure that the creatures that live there stay away from the people of Gravity Falls, but also keep the peace between those species as well. There are many things out there that you’ve probably never even heard of. Just last week we fought off a Wendigo! That was weird, cause it looked just like Dipper, but he didn’t know about Dippers birthmark so it couldn’t imitate that. That’s how I knew it wasn’t my brother.” Mabel poked Dipper in the forehead. They’d lost Norman for a little while there. So these twins, who looked to be maybe a year or so younger than he himself was, were the people who kept the bad away from the normal people of their town. That sounded like him, but they didn’t seem to have the ability to cause the bad things to happen, so he was still alone in his capabilities. It was a moment before anything was said, however it was not by anyone in this room.

            “Dipper, Mabel, back away from him.” An older voice sounded from the doorway. Mabel gasped at the implication, and Dipper looked startled by how it was said.

            “Stanford! That’s rude! We just met Norman!” Mabel snapped back. Norman could tell from the way this person held himself that Stanford knew what he was, and that he really was bad news.

            “That’s alright. You’re great uncle isn’t wrong. You probably should stay away from me. Thanks for explaining everything.” Norman forced a smile onto his face, before turning around to leave.

            “I don’t want to see you back here. Ever.” Stanford ground out, his glasses lowered over his nose, showing the seriousness in his eyes.

            “You don’t have to ask me twice.” Norman responded neutrally. Stanford walked him outside to his bike, but it was obvious that he had more to say.

            “Say your worst. Really, I have heard it all.” Norman sighed, facing the older gentleman.

            “You’re a warlock of some sort. You give off a different energy than everyone else. It’s a negative sort.” Apparently Stanford didn’t know exactly what he was.

            “I don’t refer to myself as a warlock. It’s not entirely accurate. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to correct you. The more people who know who I am, the worse off this town is. I didn’t come to stir up trouble; in fact I came to get away from it. Trust me, I’m gone.” Norman spoke, his voice having a slight edge to it, before he put his helmet back on and kicked his bike to life.

            “Stay away from my family!” Stanford shouted after him, to which Norman waved over his shoulder as he drove away.

Dipper's POV

            “I haven’t seen Stanford that cautious since he returned from the portal. I wonder what got into him. I wonder why he reacted like that to Norman. Yeah he looks different, but he was nice, if not secretive. As soon as Ford responded that way Norman’s whole demeanor changed. He became like a cornered cat.” Dipper spoke, he sounded slightly disappointed.

            “I’m sure we’ll see him around town.” Mabel pat Dipper on the back, however a moment later Stanford returned to the room.

            “I don’t want you going near that guy, ever. He is really bad news. His aura isn’t like yours or mine, its like Bills.” Ford spoke, knowing that mentioning Bill would get the kids attentions. Dippers arm started to itch again, and he couldn’t resist the urge to scratch it, revealing the tattoo on his arm. It was like the sigil that held Bill in place in the second journal, however it kept Dipper in check.

            “He is not like Bill!” Dipper countered, defending someone he’d barely met.

            “I didn’t say he was like Bill! I said his aura was! It was dark, and powerful!” Ford snapped back, taking his glasses off. Ever since battling Bill years ago it shaped who Dipper was to this day. He was quick to jump on anyone comparing anything to Bill, not because he respected the demon, but because he didn’t want to be compared to him. Bill left Dipper with his capabilities after disappearing into his own realm, and nearly killed Soos, Stan and Mabel doing it. It took Dipper a long time to finally control his new abilities, and he wasn’t going to prove Ford correct about having them.

            “My aura or whatever is like his now too you know. And I’m not evil. I’m not dark!” Dipper pulled his hat off of his head, running his hands through his hair and then placed it back, before standing up and leaving the room.

            “The aura that surrounds that guy was that of death. Whatever it is, we don’t need that in our lives as well.” Ford finally stated, as Dipper left the room. He could easily chase after the guy in the golf cart, not that it would keep up with his bike, but he felt responsible for him getting shoved away.

            “Dipper, you know that wasn’t your fault. Ford’s overly cautious of everything nowadays, he was stuck in another dimension.” Mabel joined him in the room they once shared. Since having grown older they felt separating their rooms really was a better option, so Mabel moved to the room they’d tried to give to Soos but he refused it, and Dipper got the attic. He’d long since rebuilt the window, hating the shape because it reminded him of Bill. The room was clean, except for a few random pieces of clothing strewn about, and a few items that he’d procured over the years of closely following the supernatural that invaded the town on occasion. A recent case left him stumped, and he didn’t know where to start on it. Mr. Sharpe, a wealthy landowner who thought that Gravity Falls was a great vacation spot was renovating his mansion when everyone working for him refused to continue doing the work. The man had tried every outlet he could think of to get someone to come in and figure out what the problem was with little to no improvement.

            “Mabel, we need to focus on this case, its something that is not written in journal #3. I say we investigate.”

 Norman's POV

            Norman was furious. Usually the discrimination against him was done silently and he was just avoided. What Stanford did was out of line and rude. Not that any discrimination was polite, but normally when it involved Norman it was done in silence. What pulled Norman out of his ravings was the cold presence in his apartment.

            “Really? I thought I said not to…” He trailed off as he took in the site of the spirit. In front of him was a woman with disheveled, torn, clothing, a black eye and a bunch of cuts and scrapes all along her body. Her neck was at an awkward angle, and she looked as though she had come straight out of the 80’s.

            “What happened to you.” Norman asked, getting serious about the situation.

            “You have to find me. You must find me before anyone else does. You have to help me!” She cried at him, flying towards him as if he could hold her in comfort. He was never good with crying. Or touching. Or anything emotional in general, when it came to that he always avoided it at all costs. The spirits hands passed through him as she tried for a hug.

            “What is your name?” He asked her, distracting her momentarily.

            “Cheryl. Cheryl Nomand.” She spoke sniffling. It wasn’t really possible for spirits to cry, but he understood that if she could she would be.

            “Where can I find you?” He asked her, already getting ready to leave to investigate.

            “The construction site off of the highway. They are tearing a place up and I can’t get out!” She explained. Norman sighed, grabbed the helmet he’d just hung up on a coat hook and glanced at her.

            “Can you fly faster than a bike?” She nodded and followed him to where he’d parked, and showed him the way up the highway. It took about twenty minutes to get there, and he’d wished he’d filled his gas tank up before leaving, but when he arrived, he knew that he had his work cut out for him. The mansion before him was grand, a large building with many rooms, but also dangerous, because of its lack of structure. The renovations practically gutted the inside of the building, leaving it somewhat dangerous to wander through.

            “It’s pretty dark, can you see?” Cheryl asked Norman, to which he summoned a bit of lightning to his hand. It lit up the path in front of him easily, and helped him to be able to maneuver.

            “That’s so cool, if I weren’t dead it probably wouldn’t be, but that’s such a groovy ability!” She commented, confirming his suspicions on when she’d passed away.

            “When I find you, what do you want me to do?” Norman asked, taking a careful step towards what he thought was the stairway to the basement.

            “I just want to be buried somewhere nice. Peaceful even. I tried to get the attention of all of the workers, but all I did was scare them away.” She sighed, and Norman thought of all the ways spirits normally called attention to themselves.

            “You had good intentions. You just want to be at rest.” He nodded, proceeding to where he figured she would be buried. He didn’t want to know what happened to her, well part of him did, and the rest of him could figure it out for himself. She was dressed as if she was at a party, and the state she was in showed that something very unruly happened that night.

            “If I were around during the time that this happened to you, the person involved would be dead. And I wouldn’t have let him rest in peace.” Norman muttered to himself, angry that he was unable to do more for her.

            “You’re a kind person Norman. That’s why I came to you. But, you should know that there are two other people here now.” Cheryl finished urgently.

            “I think I know who they are as well.” Norman sighed, allowing the light in his hand to go out. He could let his eyes adjust to the dark, and the soft glow that Cheryl gave off, a very ethereal glow, helped him get around.

            “Where are you from here?” Norman asked, hoping she’d lead him to her current resting place. This wasn’t his usual line of work. Graveyard shift was definitely not his favorite help to give, but he could tell this girl deserved it. She floated away a bit, and stopped in the corner of a room that was relatively untouched. Around the exits were debris that could potentially make the removal difficult, but he had faith.

            “I’m…I’m over here.” She stated, steadying her words as she spoke them. At this point, he was glad he didn’t have to deal with a gooey and in-the-process-of-decaying corpse. Dead bodies he was used to, the zombie summoning did enough to condition him, but he still disliked them.

            “I don’t want to be brought back for this though…I just want to be moved somewhere else.” She spoke, knowing about his abilities. Any ghost can sense them off of him. They know a necromancer when they see one, and usually attempt to bargain with him.

            “I won’t do that to you. I knew what you wanted.” He reassured her, using some of his earth moving abilities to reveal a black bag that was buried under the concrete.     

            “The bastard…” Norman ground out, feeling the ground shake slightly in his rage. He calmed himself down immediately, knowing that causing an earthquake wouldn’t help his job, before bending over to pick up her body. He could tell she was fragile by how her body moved in the bag.

            “Its alright, I can’t feel anything anymore. Do what you need to do.” Cheryl spoke softly. He adjusted her body on his shoulder, uncomfortable as it was literal dead weight (pun was not intended but funny none-the-less). As Norman turned around to leave, he saw a flashlight pan over him then return to where it had seen him.

            “You! What are you-What is that you’re holding?!” Dipper’s voice asked angrily from the other side of the doorway.

            “What do you think I’m holding? And I could ask you the same thing. What are you and Mabel doing here?” Norman asked, adjusting Cheryl’s body on his shoulder. She wasn’t heavy per se, just awkward.

            “We came to investigate the rumors of ghost like activities, what about you?” Mabel spoke, her voice curious, and not accusing.

            “Doing the same, except I knew what to look for.” Norman muttered, wondering how far out in the forest he would need to go to find a suitable burial spot for Cheryl.

            “How could you have possibly known that there was…a…a…person here!” Dipper hesitated before finishing his sentence, and it was obvious then that he’d never seen a dead body in his life.

            “Why else would there be rumors of a haunting. Hauntings involve lingering emotions or causes for a spirit to stay in one place. This one, just needed help.” He muttered, moving passed the twins to walk up the stairs. They followed him, and before he could say anything they grabbed the tools off of the golf cart they had, and continued his way.

            “You both should go home, this isn’t going to be the nicest part of your night. If you can’t handle saying body, you won’t be able to handle seeing one.” Norman spoke, realizing that his words were rude sounding, but it did nothing to deter the twins, in fact they just kept pace with him in silence. It was in this moment that he wished more than anything else for a cigarette. He would be buying a pack at the next gas station he stopped at for sure.

            “This looks like a nice place, and with your skills this won’t take long either.” Cheryl spoke, to which Norman nodded, and gently placed her body on the ground.

            “Do you know this person?” Dipper asked, speaking again for the first time since the basement.

            “I don’t.” Norman responded, grabbing a shovel from Mabel’s hand and opting to do the burying work himself. Dipper stepped in and started to help him, not saying another word. The work went a lot faster than it would have should Norman have done it by himself, but he would have rather done it alone. Dipper and Mabel’s presence put him on edge, especially because they were closer to knowing his secret this way. After finally getting a hole deep enough, Norman pulled himself out, and opened the bag, revealing Cheryl. Her body was dressed much in the same way she currently was floating over him, but the stench of decay wafted over him all in that first second, and he had to step away for a moment to get a breath of air, before going back. She was mummified as she had been when she died, dressed for a party, not her funeral. He pulled the bag off of her, and picked her, knowing that he was going to shower in bleach when he got home. Dipper’s face turned green, and while Mabel looked almost unaffected, her eyes shown out in sadness and grief.

            “She passed away many years ago, from a death unsuited for any human being. Putting her to rest will calm the activity in the house.” Norman stated, dropping himself into the hole he’d dug, and helping Dipper get out of it so they could finish burying her. Once the dirt was back in place, Norman didn’t want to leave her grave unmarked like it was, and took the time to find the right stone, before using some of the tools to etch a small memorial for Cheryl. He put her initials, and etched, “forever remembered” underneath. The spirit, who had made her presence known to the twins just before this moment, sobbed once before flashing slightly and disappearing.

            “That was….th-that was a ghost.” Dipper stated, his mouth open and resembling a fish.

            “Yes, it was.” Norman spoke, hoping that their temporary distraction would give him time to cover her grave with grass and calla lilies. It did but they realized the difference once they’d turned back to see Norman walking away.

            “Is this why Ford wanted us to stay away from you?! Because you can grow grass and mysteriously know where a body was buried?!” Dipper called after him. Norman sighed, but was glad that the majority of what he could do was missed by the other man.

            “Yes. This was why. Because what I can do is not considered ‘normal’ or ‘human’ or even ‘fair’. What I can do is against nature itself. And for that I’ve been scorned most of my life. Happy?” Norman turned, to find Dipper about to grab the back of his jacket. His hand dropped away from where it had been, and Mabel caught up to them in that moment.

            “This isn’t all that you can do, is it.” Dipper spoke, putting his head down slightly, hiding his eyes from Normans.

            “No its not. But I’m not going to tell you the rest. It isn’t worth putting you in a difficult place.” Norman turned around, and made the trek back to where his bike was, threw the helmet on and sped back to the gas station, where he bought the cigarettes and a cheap pack of beer filled the tank and left, having thrown the beer into the small storage box he had on the back of his bike and continued home. After bringing his things inside, he put the beer in the fridge, dropped the helmet off by the door and continued outside. The first time he’d had a cigarette was when he turned 18, and for the most part it was in retaliation against his parents. They hated that he wasn’t normal, as much as they wanted him to be, and so he used that to piss them off more. They stopped caring as much as they used to, and while he’d gone to school for a while, even apprenticed at a tattoo parlor for long enough for the place to offer him a job there, he didn’t know if that was what he wanted to do, so he didn’t stick with it too long. Thinking about it, this town would probably not benefit from a tattoo parlor, but he could try and open one anyway, god knows how many people would stumble in drunk, or some of the college students home from school would think it was a good idea. He lit the cigarette using his finger, and took a long drag, sucking in air after and relishing the feeling of the nicotine taking the edge off of his mind.

            “I didn’t know you smoked.” Dipper stated, having walked around the corner.

            “I do a lot of things you don’t know about.” Norman shrugged, not having snapped his answer, but surprised that Dipper had come around, and even found where Norman was living.

            “I’m sorry for getting snappy with you earlier. I should learn to let people have their own secrets, and to not expect to know everything. What you did for that ghost earlier really helped. I’m sorry.” Dipper apologized before shivering slightly. Norman sighed, finished his cigarette and turned around.

            “Want to come up to my place?” He asked, while Dipper accepted and followed him up the stairs. Norman needed to remember to not smoke in the apartment, especially since his parents were still in town with him. Upon entering he turned the lights on and gestured to a clear spot on the couch. For the most part it was covered in boxes from his moving in that day. Dipper took a seat, while Norman grabbed two beers from the fridge.

            “Want a beer?” He asked, holding it out for Dipper to take.

            “Oh… I can’t drink yet.” Dipper refused.

            “You aren’t in public, and one beer won’t do shit. After the night you had, trust me, I normally would go for worse, but I trust gas station beer over gas station whiskey.” Norman chuckled when Dipper opened it and had to madly try and sip the foam from the top, as it had been shaken up by Normans Harley.

            “Why did you move to Gravity Falls?” Dipper asked, making a strange face at the foam.

            “My parents moved us out here. Got me an apartment saying ‘it was time for me to move out’. I wasn’t thrilled, mostly because they said they’d pay rent for me until I got the money to pay it on my own, and also not knowing I’ve got a ton of money saved up that I have ideas for. I’m probably going to start my own Tattoo Parlor around this town, hopefully get some people.” Norman explained. He sipped his own beer, wishing it didn’t taste like cold piss water, and wishing he’d brought his bottle of scotch from his parents packed supplies. He made a mental note to run to the store tomorrow to get all the things he’d need, and also to scope out a potential place for the tattoo shop.

            “That’s awesome man! You would totally get some people, we get a lot of biker gang types through this town, and they are always covered in tattoos.” Dipper nodded, sipping more avidly at his beer then.

            “How old are you and Mabel?” Norman asked, curious because he said they couldn’t drink yet.

            “We turn 21 this summer on August 31st, but Mabel has me staying away from alcohol when she can, says I’m a lightweight. I’ve gotten drunk before though, stole some of my Grunkle Stan’s liquor after a huge fight I had a few years back. Got plastered and never really drank heavily since. How old are you?” Norman nodded, realizing that he’d been drinking, at least seriously, for the same amount of time he’d been smoking cigarettes. He glanced at the alcohol content of the beer and scoffed at the fact that it wouldn’t even make him need to pee any time soon.

            “ 21, I turn 22 on October 31st. I’ve been drinking since I was 18 though. I’m not proud of it, but with the life I’ve had, I’m surprised I didn’t start at 12.” Norman chuckled to himself, polishing off the frothy liquid and grabbing another from the fridge.

            “You’re birthday is Halloween?! How awesome is that! You can celebrate Summerween with us this year too! I’m sorry to hear that though, that you started young. How bad was your life?” Dipper asked him.

            “Lets just say I grew up near Salem. In Massachusetts, where anything vaguely abnormal was scorned and very blatantly frowned upon. I fall under that description.” Norman commented. It was obvious that Dipper was trying to get more information out of him, but Norman was a little quicker on the uptake.

“Are we playing twenty questions?” He asked, getting a sputtered cough out of Dipper, who’d just taken another sip of beer.

“I mean…I wasn’t intending to, it just, I’m curious.” Dipper stuttered, unable to meet Norman’s eyes and his ears turning a very vibrant pink.

“It’s alright. Just know I have virtually no experience with relationships or friendships really, so I’m a bit boring in that aspect.” Norman chuckled, taking his second beer to his seat. Dipper was still nursing the first one, however a blush had made its way to his cheeks, and he was tipsy from one beer.

“Wow, so when Mabel said you were a lightweight, she meant-“

“That I can’t hold shit.” Dipper smiled dumbly at him, and he knew then and there he was going to be driving his inebriated acquaintance home.

“A good ride on my bike will sober you right up, that’s for certain. But I need to make sure Mabel will be the one to retrieve you, not Stanford.” Norman spoke, patting Dipper down for his cellphone, finding it in his front pocket.

“Whoa there friend. No need to go so fast. I’m not goin’ nowhere.” Dipper slurred, his tipsiness being further compelled by tiredness.

“Great.” Norman muttered, unlocking the phone and calling Mabel from it.

“Hey Dipping Sauce, how did the talk go, did you smooth things over with Mr. Tall Dark and Mysterious?” Mabel’s voice awake and alert asked through the phone before Norman could get a word in.

“Well, Mr. Tall Dark and Mysterious accidentally got your brother drunk.” He chuckled lightly to himself.

“Oh dearie. Want me to come get him in the golf cart? Or can you get him here?” Mabel asked, suddenly serious. She didn’t seem embarrassed about having given him a weird nickname, and in fact moved on from it quickly.

“Sorry about Dip, he really can’t hold his beer.” She muttered, seemingly to Norman.

“It’s my fault for offering it to him, he warned me but I insisted. It would probably be best if you take him back, seeing as how I’d drive him, but I have a motorcycle and he can’t hold onto me that well.” He spoke, placing the phone against his shoulder and trapping it there with his head.

“I can hold onta you just fine, twist my arm to holding you. Wrap my arms right around you.” Dipper muttered, his voice getting softer and his head lolling around. Norman ignored him for the moment and focused back on Mabel.

“Can do! I’ll be there in twenty minutes. You’re in the newer apartment buildings across from the dollar store right?” Mabel asked, getting a surprised reaction from him.

“Yeah, how did you know?” She chuckled on the other line.

“Because those are some of the only apartments in our whole town.” Norman realized she was right, because his parents had bought a house not an apartment.

“Alright, see you soon.” Norman hung up, placing the phone back into Dippers pocket, before standing up and getting a glass from one of his boxes. He filled it with water and handed it to Dipper.

“Drink that.” He ordered, only for Dipper to put it down on the table and refuse.

“I don’t want it.” He spoke, sounding years younger than he was.

“I don’t care if you don’t want it. Drink the water, it’ll help sober you up.” Norman pushed the glass back into Dippers hand, before it was placed back down on the table. Norman had to think of a way to get Dipper to drink it, because the brown haired boy was starting to get on his nerves. Finally he took a huge swig of it into his own mouth, and placed his lips against Dippers. In that moment the smaller man gasped, allowing Norman to push the water into his mouth, forcing him to swallow it.

“Now finish the cup.” He stated, wiping his mouth and standing up to walk away. Apparently the alcohol was affecting him, if he’d done something so rash as to force him to drink the water with his own mouth. It wasn’t a kiss, it wasn’t a kiss, it wasn’t a kiss. He repeated in his head over and over again, leaving the apartment to wait outside for Mabel. Said girl pulled up moments later parking just outside.

“How is he?” She asked, a smile on her face despite the situation and the night she’d just had.

“Inebriated. I apologize for getting him drunk. I honestly didn’t think one beer would do that to him.” Norman apologized again, while Mabel just shrugged him off.

“Honestly you could give him cider that tasted like it had alcohol in it and he’d get drunk.” She joked, following him up to his apartment, where they found him slumped over snoring against the back of the couch. The cup of water was drained and left in his hand. Norman plucked it from him and placed it on the counter in his kitchen before walking over to where Mabel was attempting to get her brother to stand up.

“I’ll carry him down for you.” Norman spoke, picking up the other man with slight difficulty, finding him a lot heavier than Cheryl was, and carried him down to the golf cart. As he turned to ask Mabel where he should put him, he heard the snap of a camera. Mabel’s face was lit up mischievously and Norman knew then that she was the prankster of the twins.

“Oh he will kill me when he sees this.” She smiled widely, and instructed Norman of where to place her brother. As she drove off, Norman couldn’t help but think that he’d wished what happened was a real kiss somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have the next chapter up relatively soon, I don't know how long this will be to be honest, its hard to tell but it really shouldn't be all that many, considering I know which direction I want to go with it. For anyone who didn't know, Calla Lilies are often used at funerals to symbolize the purification of the soul. I don't plan on this being an overly depressing fiction, although I do have some plans for it being slightly heart wrenching. With a moderate amount of humor thrown in along the way. Working inside of Mabel's mind and personality does that. I put Norman as a tattoo artist one because I have a lot of respect for the work those people do and have some ink myself, but also it was obvious he needed a job of some sort for money, outside of the obvious. Please enjoy, tell me what you think!


	3. Past's Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Norman realizes what the "triangle" is that follows Dipper around, he can't keep the secret of his medium abilities hidden any longer for fear of Dipper being possessed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this a few days before posting it. At this point the only thing Norman tells the twins about is that he can see ghosts. I have a lot of plans, and with some help from zero_kun I have a few more chapter ideas that will extend the story for a little while longer! Thanks again for your continued support!

Dipper woke up the next morning with slight headache and unsure of where he was and how he got there.

            “Good morning Dipper!” Mabel’s cheerful voice assaulted his ears and he groaned despite himself.

            “Morning Mabel.” Dipper responded, head in his hands as he sat up in bed.

            “You got drunk at Norman’s last night! And boy do I have the blackmail against you!” Mabel spoke even more cheerfully than before, pulling her phone out and flashing it in front of his face. On the screen was a picture of Norman, his coat off leaving his arms open for the world to see, carrying Dipper in his arms like one would a bride, a slightly concerned look on his face, as his mouth was open like he’d been talking.

            “Norman knew you took that?!” Dipper exclaimed, grabbing the phone out of Mabel’s hands as he debated whether or not he should delete it. For the sake of posterity, he wanted to, but for the sake of seeing the strength that Norman obviously possessed to be able to carry Dipper down the stairs and out to the golf cart, he might text it to himself. A moment passed by and Dipper remembered one more detail about the night he’d forgotten. One thing about when Dipper got drunk was, he would refuse to drink anything other than alcohol after having one drink. That being said, Norman had fought him last night over getting him to drink water, and he was glad he did in retrospect, but the way Norman got Dipper to take that first step made Dippers face light up like it was on fire.

            “Can I have my phone back? I have to send this to Coraline!” Mabel squealed to herself at the prospect of showing her girlfriend Dippers not so secret mistake.

            “How did I get into my pajamas?” Dipper asked, glancing down at his body to see that he was dressed ready for bed.

            “I changed you, it was difficult and you should thank me.” Mabel spoke, a snide glance over her shoulder told him she was joking.

            “Thanks Mabel, for picking me up and all.” Dipper sighed.

            “Oh, if I hadn’t come to pick you up Mr. Tall Dark and Mysterious would have given you a ride home on the motorcycle, which we decided was a bad idea. He called me on your phone, saying that he wanted me to pick you up.” Mabel laughed to herself, before grabbing her pet pig Waddles and practically skipping down the stairs. It took him a moment to remember that he always kept his phone in his front pockets, but Norman couldn't have known that, so he probably had to pat down Dipper in order to find his phone. A groan left his throat, but Dipper followed Mabel down the stairs at a much more subdued pace, before sitting at the table and chomping on some toast.

            “Did you solve the case from last night? I heard you all discussing it.” Ford asked, unaware that Dipper and Mabel had met up with the person he’d told them not to meet with ever again.

            “It was a ghost, her body was buried under the building and we moved it to the forest. Not the hardest case.” Dipper stated, however realizing that he wasn’t the one to solve it, Norman was.

            “Good, I have some things I need you guys to run to town to get for my, nothing big but groceries and some supplies. I’m going on a camping trip soon, I’ll be gone for about a month so I need some stuff for that.” Ford explained, writing out the list on a piece of paper for Mabel to hold onto. Dipper nodded, downing another glass of water before going to the bathroom to shower and change. Once there, his mind wandered to the night before, and he thought about all of the dumb things he did.

            “I’m really an idiot…how could a guy like that who seems so put together have anything for a guy like me, who can’t even handle one case file!” he thought out loud, dragging a sudsy hand through his brown hair. The heat of the water helped to wake him up more, and he thought about the picture Mabel had shown him earlier. He’d checked out Norman before that picture was taken, seen that the man was tall and lean, but obviously strong enough to hold Dipper, and as he thought about Norman his body had other ideas for what he’d be doing in the shower. It wasn’t the first hard-on he’d ever worked out in his life, but the thoughts flowing through his head, of Norman and the startling blue eyes, the tattoos under the pale skin, the muscles bunched in that lean body, his mind took the fantasy to a different level. A few minutes of this, and what rocked him was the best orgasm he’d had in his life. He was seeing spots and his mouth ran dry as he braced himself up against the wall with one arm, breathing heavily.            

            “Dipper, you done soon? We have to go to the store for Ford remember?!” Mabel called at the door, but Dipper was still unable to answer her properly so he just tapped on the wall a few times, and she apparently understood him well enough because she walked away. Almost as soon as he regained the ability to think properly, he realized he’d just wacked off to a dude he’d met the previous day.

            “Fucckkkk.” He ground out, finishing washing himself and making sure that the tub and everything else was clean before hopping out and throwing a towel around his waist. He glanced in the mirror, wiping it down so that it wasn’t as fogged up and analyzed himself. He wasn’t overly tall, a trait that ran in his family, but he was average height for a man, taller than Mabel at least. His body had gotten muscular over the years due to the amount of work he did for Grunkle Stan, but also due to the amount of work he did keeping the supernatural creatures from wreaking havoc on the town. He’d also taken up baseball in high school, which helped keep him on top of his game for when he returned to Gravity Falls. There was still a small layer of baby fat the clung to him though that he couldn’t get rid of no matter how hard he tried. So while Norman was tall and pointy, Dipper was shorter and round around the edges. Not that Dipper was ashamed of his body, he was built like a lineman and could take a hit just as well as one. A strong wind would blow Norman over, although he proved stronger than Dipper thought he would have been.

            “Focus Dipper, focus.” He muttered to himself, attempting to calm down, before leaving for his room. He grabbed a black shirt and threw it on over blue jeans and his usual red and black plaid jacket, before pulling on his shoes and throwing a hat on. His hair would dry soon enough, so he left it as it was before joining Mabel at the golf cart. Neither of them bothered to look for a car because they had access to the cart, so long as they were using it for “profitable” activities. Mabel hopped into the passenger side while Dipper got in to drive. The drive to town was peaceful, and the air helped to clear his head, and dry his hair, as the forest passed by. It wasn’t long before they did arrive in town at the local grocery mart, where they found Robbie’s van trolling outside of it. Wendy stood not far away, frustration clear on her face.

            “What did he do now?” Dipper asked, knowing that Robbie was at fault. It was always something he did that pissed Wendy off.

            “Nothing you need to worry about Dip. I promise. Its nothing I can’t handle.” Wendy pat his shoulder as they passed. Dipper was always worried about Wendy and her boyfriend, who were constantly fighting. Wendy was a good friend of his so he worried for her sake. They continued past, knowing that she really could take care of it herself. Once inside Mabel and Dipper split the list evenly, and got to work on finding their individual items.

            “This really is a small fucking town.” Norman’s voice came from the other side of the stack, and Dipper raised his head to meet the eyes of the other guy. Norman wore a white loose fitting tank top over dusky black jeans and black boots. He didn’t have a coat but if Dipper didn’t know better it was slung over the back of the guys Harley. In that moment Dipper blanked and didn’t know what to say. He pushed the thoughts of his earlier adventures back in his mind and forced the first thing after out of his mouth.

            “I’m not stalking you.” He spoke with conviction, causing Mabel, who was an isle over and still within earshot to snort and start laughing out loud, while Normans face turned slightly red from trying to refrain from laughing.

            “I didn’t think you were. Should I be suspicious?” He asked Mabel with an amused tone to his voice. Mabel just gave him a noncommittal shrug because she was laughing too hard. Dipper mumbled to himself about stupid sisters, before walking to the other side of the isle. In Norman’s cart was two different kinds of whiskey, a pack of coke, some deli meat and bread, vegetables and some frozen chicken. Norman eyed him as he passed, and Dipper realized that he could feel his ears turning bright pink. He wouldn’t think about what happened in the shower, he couldn’t think about what happened in the shower. He had to not think about what happened in the shower. Fuck he was thinking about the shower. Mabel’s amused face appeared over the top of the shelves and Dipper used all of his will power to not throw a small bag of flour at her. The last things that he needed to get for Ford were lighter fluid and a 24 pack of water. Grabbing those and throwing them into Mabel’s cart, Dipper turned to see the two of them chatting happily about stuff around town. He heard the mention of Coraline, who Mabel hadn’t seen in a while but was visiting the coming weekend, and talk about potentially going to see a movie. Dipper felt a small stab of jealousy, wondering when the two of them got to be good friends.

            “Dipper! We are gonna go to a movie this weekend, I’m bringing Coraline and Norman will be picking you up!” Mabel called to him. It took him a moment to realize that Mabel set him up with Norman.

            “Mabel!” He hissed at her, wishing he didn’t have the stress of knowing that on Saturday he’d have to prepare for a date set up for him by his twin sister.

            “I don’t have to go if that’s a problem for you.” Norman spoke, misunderstanding why Dipper sounded angry.

 

Norman’s POV

            “No! No, its not you, don’t worry!” Norman couldn’t help but make a face as Dipper responded far too quickly to his statement.

            “Are you sure? You don’t seem to want to go.” He pointed out, watching Dippers face as his expression changed.

            “Trust me, I want to, it was just sudden.” Dipper explained, and the triangle spirit appeared above his left shoulder again.

            “He likes you. He’s just being stupid.” The voice spoke, and Norman couldn’t help the shiver that went through him at the voice. The voice was mean sounding, as if it were mocking Dipper and Norman realized that it wasn’t human, it was demonic. What possessed Dipper wasn’t a human spirit but a demon.

            “Dipper. I need to talk to you. It’s very important, can I pull you aside?” Norman asked with a slight amount of urgency coming out into his voice. Dipper sputtered for a second before he responded.

            “Whatever you have to say you can say in front of Mabel, she knows everything about me.” He spoke slowly, looking very confused by the request.

            “Sure, fine, lets go over to the corner.” He pulled Dipper away, while Mabel followed.

            “Have you ever had a run in with a demon?” Norman asked, his voice hushed slightly as he leaned closer to the twins. He was also gauging their reactions versus what they were going to tell him, because he didn’t expect them to tell the truth.

            “Of course they have, you’re looking at him. The name’s Bill Cipher, Mr. Necromancer. Mr. Warlock.” The triangle spoke with a condescending tone. Norman resisted the urge to step away from the twins as they gave each other shocked expressions.

            “Oh, so you can read aura’s as well can you?” Dipper asked in a hurt voice.

            “What? No I can’t read your aura!” Norman reeled back, confused by the sudden hostility.

            “You’re just like Stanford, putting out judgment without any knowledge.” Dipper snapped. Mabel looked more confused than angry, but she was also worried for her brother.

            “How were you able to guess we’ve dealt with a demon?” She asked him. It was now or never that his worry for their sake surpassed his wanting to stay a secret. He wouldn’t tell them everything.

            “He’s floating over Dippers left shoulder. You can’t see him it’s the residue of him left in this world. His name started with a B and a C didn’t it?” Norman sighed. The next question asked was one that he predicted.

            “Are you a psychic?” Mabel asked, suddenly very wary of him.

            “Not really. I’m a medium, I can see and communicate with spirits. That’s how I knew where that ghosts body was buried. She told me.” Norman sighed, preparing himself for the immediate backlash. Mabel and Dipper glanced at each other in a silent form of communication that they seemed to be able to do between themselves.

            “You hit the nail on the head. Would it be possible for us to continue to the conversation tonight? Mabel and I have to finish shopping, and we’ve been standing in this corner whispering for a little while now and it looks weird. What’s your cell phone number? Here’s mine, so whenever you can just shoot me a text.” Dipper sighed, looking resigned and almost broken.

            We can talk at my apartment, I’ll make us some dinner.” Norman nodded, grabbing his cart and paying, before checking his watch for the time. He carefully placed all of his bags into the storage bags on his bike, and it barely fit, and left, hoping that he wasn’t going to be late for the meeting with the landlord of a closed shop a few blocks away from his apartment. He knew that making a good first impression was important, so as soon as he returned to his place he put away the groceries and changed into a red button up over his white tank top and pulled on a pair of nice black pants and his black leather shoes, before glancing into the mirror to attempt to fix anything he’d missed. For a tattoo place, this would have to do, but he would need business associates eventually. Mentally he started to map out the help wanted sign and ad he’d put out in the future, should this place be worth the cost. Deciding that he looked as well as he could given the time he had, Norman grabbed his things and left, meeting the land lord outside of a building with a fence all around it. The store was called the Dusk to Dawn.

            “This looks somewhat creepy.” Norman muttered to himself, but went up and shook the hand of the owner.

            “I’m Norman Babcock. I’m glad you could come out and meet me today. I’m interested in buying your building, or even renting it, to put a tattoo parlor inside.” Norman spoke, getting straight to the point.

            “I’ll sell it to you here and now for $23,000.” The man offered, which was a lot lower than Norman had anticipated needing to pay for it. Over the years he realized he’d procured quite a bit of money from his grandmothers will, and his great uncle Prenderghast’s sudden passing left the money to the Babcock family. Sandra didn’t trust her uncle’s money however, and placed all of it in Normans account. However Sandra didn’t realize that Norman had changed the money over to a different account in his name that his parents couldn’t tap into whenever they wanted to.

            “It’s a deal, is there any reason the building is so cheap?” Norman asked, curious. The building wasn’t decrepit, it wasn’t in disrepair, it looked to be under 10 years old.

            “The previous owners died in that building, and rumor has it that its been haunted ever since. I bought it and hoped to sell it but what with everyone knowing the rumors, no one was interested.” The man admitted, to which Norman found believable, but he still wanted the building.

            “Am I the only offer?” He continued with, getting an affirmative nod from the owner.

            “I’m giving you full rights to the land, I don’t want it in my possession anymore, its just been sitting here without earning me anything, so I felt I should let it go.” With that, he handed Norman the new deed to the land and a bank account number.

            “This isn’t normally how these transactions should go, but you look like a trustworthy young man, and I don’t want to take the time to go through the more rigid of methods to sell this place. If you need anything else, you can pay the amount straight into that account and it’s yours.” The man spoke, hurrying away. Norman felt the excitement bubble inside of him. Not only was he the owner of the building now, but if he could stop the haunting, he could make some pretty good money from the parlor. Tucking the deed safely into his bikes bag, he climbed over part of the fence, and entered the front of the store.

            “Hello, is there anyone here?” He asked, when suddenly the room started to glow green and two spirits approached him.

            “You wouldn’t happen to be a teenager, would you?” The husband asked. It was an elderly couple that appeared before him.

            “I am not sir, I’m 21.” Norman answered, not sure why his age mattered.

            “Oh that’s just delightful. We hate teenager’s see. Their rowdiness caused us to have double heart attacks and we passed away. We’ve stayed here ever since to protect it from those who would wish to change it’s ways.” The wife spoke, however Norman figured that what he was about to tell them would send them into a rage.

            “I just purchased this shop. I know it was a convenience store previously, however I plan on using it for a personal business, however I do not want to offend or intrude. I plan to change this place into a tattoo parlor. The age for getting a tattoo is 18, just barely inside of teenage years, but I do not plan on allowing families to bring teenagers younger than that in here.” Norman bowed his head slightly, preparing for the onslaught of comments from the pair, but they were oddly silent.

He glanced up at them to find them hugging each other.

            “Finally someone will be putting this old building to use, that was the one thing holding us away from moving on. We wanted our building to do something, not sit around for time on end. You are a great young man!” They both cried out, before disappearing.          

            “Well, that takes care of that.” Norman muttered, before pulling his phone out. He’d make it home before the twins would get to his apartment, but he still thought to let them know before he left to reduce the time some. Dipper texted back immediately saying they were on their way over, so Norman jumped onto his bike and got home to start dinner. He didn’t bother changing, seeing as how he didn’t have a good chance to, because as soon as the chicken was off the pan, the twins were knocking on his door.

            “It’s unlocked.” He called, not taking his eyes off of the roasting veggies. As they walked in a random person followed them inside.

            “Guys, not to alarm you but there is someone behind you…” Norman spoke, urging them into the room. Dipper turned around and obviously recognized whoever it was because he shooed him away immediately.

            “That’s just Ol’ Man McGucket. He’s the kook of the town. Don’t trust any of his inventions.” Dipper shuttered, while Norman couldn’t help the chuckle that left his mouth.

            “You got it. Go ahead and take a seat, we can talk after we eat.” He passed paper plates out and gave each of them a good serving. Norman glanced at Mabel and Dipper, to see that they both had curious expressions on their faces. Dipper had chosen to wear a flannel plaid button up rather than his jacket and the sleeves were rolled up. On his arms were sigils, that looked as though they carved a complicated inscription on his arms, and on the left was the demon they’d discussed earlier in the day. That caught Norman’s attention, but he knew to open up with his own story.

 

Dipper’s POV

Dipper was impressed. That was an understatement, but he admitted that the ability to cook sure was handy.

            “Where to start…” Norman spoke, taking a moment to unbutton his shirt. Underneath was the tank top he’d been wearing earlier, and with out it he looked much more relaxed.

            “When I lived in Blithe Hollow, I was the creepy kid who didn’t fit in. Granted that didn’t change as I got older, but for years I couldn’t understand why I didn’t have friends. I realized one day that it was because of my ability to see ghosts. It had been passed down through the family, and fell to me as the responsibility to keep the ‘witch’ of Blithe Hollow from rising up once again. That one year that the responsibility fell onto me, I nearly failed, causing the destruction of the whole city. The ‘witch’ responsible, was a girl named Agatha Prenderghast. Turned out her family was the ancestors of mine, through a relative of hers. Anyway, She was burned at the stake at the age of 12 for witchcraft. But the day they burned her she cast an actual curse over the town.” Norman explained, finding it easier to just tell the story in full rather than leave details out. Both Dipper and Mabel were enthralled immediately, listening intently as he spoke. Dipper felt bad for Norman, realizing that the hard life he’d spoken about was entirely true.

            “The curse stated that the seven people who condemned her to death would rise from the grave as the un-dead, should she awaken on Halloween night. That year, my great uncle who had held the responsibility of lulling her back to sleep, passed away, and the task was put onto me. We weren’t able to keep the zombies from rising, and when we tried to read the book to Aggie she ended up zapping me off of a roof destroying the book, and knocking me out. From there I saw a vision, which has only happened a few times in my life, where I saw what happened in her trial, and I realized that she wasn’t evil, just scared and lonely. I used that to my advantage and stopped her from leveling the town, just in time. But because of that I became the zombie boy, or the boy who can talk to ghosts, and the seclusion and discrimination got worse.” Dipper wanted more than anything to reach out and pull Norman into a hug, but Mabel beat him to it, and plus Dipper normally wasn’t the person to hug others, but his heart went out to the grown man sitting next to him. Norman tensed when Mabel hugged him, showing he wasn’t used to human contact.

            “That’s so sad! For shame on those people!” Mabel pouted for a moment, before grabbing a mouthful of food and going back to pouting.

            “That’s how you knew about Bill.” Dipper spoke, realizing that once again he’d jumped the gun on his assumptions.

            “Yeah, sometimes I can see him. Sometimes I can’t. He’s selective.” Norman squinted behind Dipper.

            “Yeah, he was always like that. The reason he’s there, and the reason for the tattoos on my arms is because he left a lot of his powers, the things he could do, with me when we fought him off. He’d been summoned to our realm by a little fake psycho psychic named Gideon.” Dipper started, getting a growl from Mabel.

            “That little creep.” She muttered, while Dipper nodded in agreement.

            “Anyway, he was summoned by Gideon, and the only way to keep him from causing further problems was to seal him back into something. We chose me because he had a particular attachment to me. Now I can do a lot of what he did, but I don’t like to. It feels wrong. Let alone rude.” Dipper finished, while Norman nodded. Somewhere in his mind he felt at peace. He realized that these twins lived through something similar to his own experience, and they never lost hope. There was something about these two that made him hope that he could respond as positively as they could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was to everyone's liking, I will be working Coraline into the story a little more in the next few chapters, and then eventually Wybie. I have editing to do for the next chapter but otherwise it should be a up in a few days time! Thanks again!


	4. Dream Jump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After coming to a better understanding of each other, Norman and Dipper seem to have gotten closer. But when an emergency strikes, what can be done to save what they started?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I left the summary vague because I wanted people to have a little more mystery for this chapter. I don't have as much to say, and I'm very surprised by how much time has passed between my posted chapters, and while I said originally I'd post every Monday I think I got overzealous and its not as much as I can pound out as fast as I can haha. Enjoy!

The silence in the room was deafening, and for once neither Dipper nor Mabel knew what to do about it. Dipper took a bite of the chicken placed in front of him, marveling at the taste.

            “This is awesome! How did you make this?!” He asked, getting an amused smile out of Norman. The other man had served everyone at the same time before sitting down and helping himself, but also having poured himself a glass of whiskey.

            “I learned from my mom and grandmother. Both were great cooks to learn from.” He chuckled, taking a sip of his drink before sitting back.

            “Why were you all dressed up when we got here? Did you have a date?” Mabel smiled mischievously, causing Dipper to nearly spit his drink out. He wanted more than anything to know that Norman didn’t have a date and that Dipper didn’t have competition for Norman’s affection.

            “No, I did not have a date, that would be very rude of me would it not? To go on a date the same day I was asked to one? No, it was a business meeting. I am now the owner of the old Dusk to Dawn.” Norman answered, while Dipper and Mabel looked at each other with panicked expressions.

            “Tell me you didn’t go inside?” Dipper exclaimed, hoping that Norman didn’t get his ass handed to him by a pair of senile ghosts.

            “I did. I got the couple that haunted the place to move on, and I can start working on my idea now that they aren’t there.” Norman nodded, eating some of his food before moving his plate to the counter behind him. It seemed like an everyday thing to have reclaimed that haunted building, but after what Dipper and Mabel went through, they'd never gone back to that place. Dipper noticed that he hadn’t finished eating, but he didn’t comment on it. His sister then took it upon herself to change the subject.

            “So, how long did it take you to learn to ride a motorcycle?” Mabel asked, very interested.

            “I learned after I turned 18. It pissed my parents off, but that’s what I’ve been good at doing all my life, so it didn’t really change much day to day.” Norman chuckled, finishing his glass and putting it behind him as well. Whiskey didn’t do anything to change his demeanor or even his stride as he cleaned up, but one beer put Dipper out of commission. Part of him was jealous, because this person who was just under a year older was so mature already.

            “Is it hard?” Dipper asked, having thought about the possibility of getting one himself.

            “At first it was, it was remembering to do certain things and multitask, but it got easier as time went on.” Norman shrugged, before moving over and grabbing some boxes off of his couch. It was an L shaped couch that went around a fireplace and a TV that might not have been set up. He then gestured for Dipper and Mabel to join him over there.

            “How did you get away from your great uncle?” Norman asked, reclining back.

            “I told him we were going to be hanging out with a few friends of mine, he never really doubts me.” Mabel shrugged with a smile. Norman nodded and sighed, he leaned forward again and put his hands together in front of him. 

            “I am not evil, I don’t have bad intentions, its just when you’re surrounded by spirits your aura tends to reflect that. I may not be able to see aura’s but my impressions and my hunches usually aren’t wrong.” Norman spoke. Dipper wasn’t focusing as much on his words anymore, so much as he was watching his body. Dipper had had crushes before, his longest running one had been on Wendy, before he figured out he was gay, and that she was a great friend. He’d found that crushes went away somehow, they didn’t normally linger. Dipper’s mind wandered for a moment and he remembered his moment in the shower again. Using a pillow that was haphazardly thrown onto the couch he pulled it into his lap and hugged it to himself, trying to look as if he were getting comfortable, but he was really trying to hide his erection. Neither Mabel nor Norman seemed to notice and for that he was glad.

            Conversation continued for a while, covering a few different topics, like Soos and Waddles, before the twins decided that they should head home. Norman escorted them out to their golf cart, and as they left Dipper threw a glance over his shoulder to find Norman waving goodbye, a cigarette in his other hand.

Norman’s POV

His mind was running at a mile a minute, trying to keep track of what he wanted and what he knew was ok to want. Dipper seemed even more spaced out than he’d seen him in the last few days, only engaging in the conversation if he was addressed, hugging a pillow to himself as if he needed it for support. Norman figured since Mabel hadn’t said something about it, that it wasn’t that uncommon for Dipper to take the backseat in some conversations. Norman pulled another drag from his cigarette and sighed. He didn’t know what his feelings were on Dipper just yet. He knew he was attracted to him, the way his hair curled and the way his voice, even though it was obvious it had changed, had some slight cracks and inflections that made it very unique. He liked the boys height, and how if he really wanted to Norman could lean his cheek against the top of Dippers head.

            “When did I become so sappy.” He muttered to himself, pulling his phone out and dialing up his sister. He hadn’t called her since before the move, and even though that was only a few days previous, he wanted to talk with her again.

            “Hello?” Her voice answered from the other side, and a smile grew on Norman’s face.

            “Hey Court. What’s new?” He asked, starting up a conversation. Turned out that Courtney had gotten engaged to a guy she’d met in college that very day, but wanted to fly out and tell their parents in person.

            “I have to meet this guy you know, make sure he’s good enough for you, and can tolerate anything that happens when I’m around.” Norman joked, poking fun at his own situation.

            “Any guy who can’t handle my family isn’t worth it. Which is why I found one that would fit in!” She responded with a chuckle. The conversation went on for another few minutes, talking about how Norman was doing in Gravity Falls, and he didn’t give her details but said it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. Finally Courtney had to go but said she’d call him back another time soon. He sighed, finishing the partially snuffed cigarette in his hand, vowing someday to quit smoking, before heading back inside to go to sleep.

            Norman’s senses expanded, and he looked around as he walked. He was wandering, a forest surrounding him that looked familiar but he couldn’t place it. As he walked fingers intertwined themselves with his, and he glanced that direction finding Dipper walking with him, a peaceful expression on his face. Norman couldn’t help the small smile that formed on his face as he walked, hand tightening around Dippers. Birds were chirping as they wandered. Dipper stopped for a moment, not saying anything but wrapping his arms around Norman’s neck. Automatically Norman’s arms found their way around Dippers, and before he could say anything, Dippers lips connected with his own. Soft and gentle, but wanting all the same. It took a moment for his mind to catch up, and when it did floodgates burst open. Norman moved his hands down Dippers muscular back, feeling its shape and strength before reaching down and cupping the other boys ass in his hands, pulling Dipper almost impossibly closer.     

            “Norm- _ahh._ ” Dipper moaned, as Norman turned Dipper around and gently pressed him up against a tree not far from them. He dropped his lips to Dippers neck, biting and tonguing the marks he’d left, while pushing his hands under Dippers shirt to caress his sides. His fingers brushed over the taught muscle that was underneath Dippers skin, finding it even more arousing. His teeth scratched against the other man's collar bone as he brushed his own growing erection up into Dipper's hip. The moan that left Dipper caused a small growl out of Norman’s throat, and he kept up his ministrations on Dippers collarbone. Dippers hands found their way into Norman’s hair, and Norman released his held breath into Dippers chest. Picking his head back up he mashed his mouth against Dipper’s once again, pushing against his lip with his tongue, begging to be let in. Dipper’s mouth opened, and the kiss deepened, while Norman pushed his hips up into Dippers, grinding them together as their tongues continued to explore each other. A moment later, Norman pulled back, looking into Dipper’s eyes to watch as their usual brown was replaced by glowing yellow with a slit where the pupil should have been.

            “Did you know that you project when you dream? No? Well you’ve been projecting all night.” Dipper’s voice had been replaced by Bill’s. There was a resounding snap and he felt the dream slip away.

            Norman shot off of his pillow, suddenly aware that he was alone in his room, and the last thing that happened was a dream. A sigh escaped him as he ran his fingers through his bed head. A shower would quickly fix it, and a quick glance at his watch told him it was 6:45 in the morning. He didn’t know how to react to the dream he’d had. It was powerful, but the problem he had was figuring out what he really wanted.

Dipper’s POV

 

That dream was something else. A few days had passed since it happened and it stuck. He couldn’t tell if it was his or Norman’s or both at that point, but he couldn’t shake it from his mind. It felt so real, felt like he really was kissing Norman, feeling the wiry body against his. He wanted that, no doubt, but did Norman feel the same way? Dipper didn’t know how to find out, considering it didn’t seem like a good idea to just walk up to the guy and say “Hey, I’m just curious but I had a dream the other night that we were making out passionately in the woods, and I’m wondering if you actually want that?” Dipper shook his head, and started making a list of everything he would need to do for the date later that day. Mabel had told him it wasn’t necessary, and then called him a worrywart again, before getting herself ready. Stanford had left the day before, and Grunkle Stan had no idea why Norman wasn’t allowed around so he didn’t care so much.

            “I’m going to take the golf cart to get Coraline. Norman said he’d be here with enough time to grab some food and then meet us at the theater, so I guess that means he’s taking you to dinner.” Mabel gave Dipper a curious grin, before grabbing something out of Dipper’s closet and tossing it at him.

            “Wear this, trust me!” Mabel called as she ran out the door. Dipper pulled the fabric away from himself, seeing his nice blue button down. Figuring that he had enough time to shower before Norman got there, seeing as how he’d spent most of the day fussing over everything. Jumping into the shower, the dream he’d had flashed into his mind once again, leaving him turned on and wishing that it wasn’t just a dream, and that Bill’s specter hadn’t interrupted it. It wasn’t long before he’d finished what he hadn’t meant to do in the shower and stepped out, feeling even less prepared for the date than before.

            “It isn’t as if he’ll be waiting for me already.” Dipper sighed, throwing the towel around his waist and walking up the stairs to the attic. When they’d moved into the attic as kids Dipper didn’t necessarily appreciate how roomy it was, until Mabel moved down to the room behind the bookcase. He opened the door and turned towards his dresser immediately, seeking out a pair of boxers when a small cough came from behind him. Dipper held the towel in one of his hands, the other grabbing a flashlight off of the dresser as a weapon as he spun around. Standing on the other side of his room was a very red faced Norman, wearing a black button down, un-tucked with grey pants under and a white shirt tucked in underneath. He had a chain dangling on one side, and his hair was a little more styled than normal.

            “What are you doing up here?!” Dipper demanded, not remembering he was practically naked at first.

            “Your Grunkle Stan sent me up. I didn’t know you were showering, I’m really sorry!” Norman apologized, his voice sounding really nervous. He left the room quickly, closing the door behind him leaving Dipper standing alone again. It took a moment before he realized he was in fact in a towel, still wet, and Norman had witnessed that.

            “Fuck.” Dipper sighed, dropping the towel and pulling a pair of boxers on. He’d have to apologize for snapping.

 

Norman’s POV

 

He couldn’t control the blush on his face, couldn’t stop feeling like he wanted to go back into the room and have his way with him. Shaking his head and slapping his cheeks he turned to knock, but heard a crash from inside the room. Trying the door he realized that it was locked suddenly, and without regard for any of his past feelings of hiding his abilities he zapped the door in and charged through. Inside, Dipper was being held by what looked to Norman as a very beautiful woman. She had long flowing blonde hair, blue eyes the color of the sea, and breasts that would make most people drool. She wore a flowing white tunic and while she looked beautiful she screamed danger. On her back were bat like wings, with a tail leading to an arrowhead tip.

            “I see that your little friend has quite the power. His dreams would feed me for days. I can’t wait!” Her seductive voice permeated the room, but it made Norman feel cold. He took a step forward, preparing to take Dipper back but he was struck by an unseen force, and thrown into the wall behind him. It took him a second to catch his breath, and he realized that a few ribs were broken in more than one place, creating a weird sucking feeling. This was bad, and he needed help if he wanted to get Dipper back. What he’d deduced was that it was a succubus that fled with Dipper, who was already unconscious. Norman reached for his phone, pulling it out to call Mabel and hope she’d pick up. The phone rang twice before the click sounded.

            “Mabel Pines, matchmaker extraordinare.” Her voice came through in an amused tone.

            “MABEL! Dipper has been kidnapped!” Norman cried out, feeling the pain in his ribs from where they were broken. He’d need to be careful not to move too much, or he’d puncture something important, like a lung.

            “I tried to stop her but she took him. She broke my ribs and then fled with Dipper. She’s strong.” Norman kept muttering, feeling responsible for letting her go with him.

            “What is she.” Mabel demanded, all the amusement gone.

            “A succubus, I think.” Norman sighed, trying to prop himself up against the wall.

            “We’ll be there in a few.” Mabel hung up then, leaving Norman to his own devices until she’d gotten there.

            “Alcohol.” He muttered, knowing that while painkillers would work, they would take longer than alcohol would, and he didn’t plan on getting drunk, just numbing the pain. He stumbled down the stairs, finding Stanley so engrossed in the TV he didn’t notice anything had happened. That was probably how Dipper and Mabel got away with as much as they did, he never really noticed half of it. In the kitchen was a bottle of scotch, and Norman threw back a big gulp of it, before replacing the bottle and letting the effects happen. It took a moment but when it did, he felt moderately better.

            “Where do you think they went.” Mabel demanded, while a blue haired girl followed her into the house, looking almost as concerned.

            “Out the attic.” He winced, as he turned to show them, but was stopped by the girl.

            “Lift your shirts.” She demanded, putting her hands on his side. He tried his best, finding that the motion on its own caused a ton more pain. He grit his teeth doing as she asked, and pushing past it.

            “He has a flail chest. Damn, this kind of wound needs hospital treatment.” She muttered, surprising Norman. Mabel’s face flashed with pride for a moment before she steeled her features again.

            “Coraline is a paramedic. She has helped us a lot with our injuries over the years. You sure she was a succubus?” Mabel demanded. Norman nodded, while Coraline continued to poke and prod him.

            “They went to the direction of the woods. I can get help in finding him, but you’re going to have to trust me.” Norman spoke, preparing to summon some bodies who could search the woods ahead of them. If he summoned them as a zombie they were limited to basic movements due to the decaying flesh. If he summoned them as skeletons, he could bind them with his ability and they could do a lot more, a lot faster.

            “I trust that you want to get Dipper back. I trust that you will do all that you can to succeed.” Mabel spoke, turning away and running towards her room. When she returned she had a pack full of things and a flashlight in her hand.

            “We always leave the packs ready to go because we never know when something might happen.” Mabel explained. Norman nodded again, and stepped outside with her. Coraline followed, and before either girl could comment, they felt a surge of electricity in the air, and glanced at Norman. He was surrounded by lightning, his eyes glowing yellow.

            “I call the spirits to rise, to aid, to fight for me. I call the dead to return!” He spoke, his voice echoing in the forest, and there was a rumbling sound, almost like an earthquake. A parade of skeletons exited the forest, not mindless but still working for him.

            “You will search for Dipper. You know what he looks like and what took him, so be careful.” Norman commanded, sweeping his hand towards the direction he went, and the small army of the dead took off.

            “You are a…” Mabel started to say but got a sharp tug from Coraline. Said girl shook her head. Mabel looked at Normans face to see worry and shame.

            “Because of my inability to save him your brother was taken. I may have some special abilities, but I’m still weak.” He muttered. Taking as deep a breath as he could allow he steeled himself and got to his motorcycle.

            “Take the golf cart and follow me. I’ll go in the direction they probably went. Are there any caves in the area?” Norman asked, and Mabel nodded, pulling journal #3 out and showing it to Norman.

            “These are all the documented caves near Gravity Falls. Most have collapsed over time, but these three are still open. It’s probably in one of them.” Mabel pulled the book away and got into the cart. Norman had never dared to take his bike off the road before, but for Dipper he was willing to do anything. Taking off with Mabel and Coraline close behind he darted between trees, passing up some of the searching skeletons as he did. The search continued as the day progressed towards night, with little evidence to be found. The three of them sat down in a small clearing after realizing that night had fallen and they were no closer to Dipper.

            “How can we find him?” Mabel asked, worried for her brothers sake. Norman’s mind was running at a thousand miles a minute, racking his brain for anything that happened that could lead them to where Dipper was.

“Did you know that you project when you dream? No? Well you’ve been projecting all night.” Bills voice rang in his head, and he suddenly realized something that they could do.

“A few nights ago I was dreaming, and Dipper was there, let me finish. As the dream went on Bill came in an told me that I was projecting. What was Bill able to do?” Norman asked Mabel, after she was about to make a joke about him dreaming of Dipper.

“He was a dream demon. Able to dream…jump! That’s it! Dipper can do that too! He can read dreams as they happen and jump into them!” Mabel shouted pulling Norman into a hug as he winced into her. The pain was worse, and according to Coraline the bruising was getting worse as time progressed.

“I was connected to him in this dream, meaning that he shared it with me. All I have to do is make the connection again and he can lead us to where he is!” Norman pieced together. Taking a deep breath he laid back onto the ground, willing his body to cooperate with him for once, and to fall asleep. Luckily for him he’d always been a lucid dreamer, and in this instance it helped, because as soon as he realized he was asleep, he began to focus solely on Dipper. His awareness spread over the surrounding forest and town, until it spiked in one direction and brought him straight there

“How did you find me?” Dipper’s voice asked, ragged sounding. Norman looked around and found the boy, still half dressed laying on a stone floor, the cave was a good place to start.

“Do you remember the dream from a few days ago? Did you have that dream? Norman asked, hoping he was correct in his assumption. Dippers face lit up and Norman knew he’d been right.

“I thought…but…” Dipper stuttered. Norman shook his head.

“Don’t worry, that wasn’t your dream. I projected. After Mabel told me of Bill’s abilities I figured out that if I projected my dream again you’d see it. We both are sleeping then. What has you is a-“

“A succubus. I know. I figured that out from her lewd thoughts.”

“I came to find you. Where are you?” Norman asked urgently. He would discuss the mention of reading thoughts another time.

“The old railway. Mabel will know where that is. You have to leave now, she’s coming back!” Dipper cut off the communication, causing Norman to jolt awake in pain. He hadn’t realized so much time had passed, and morning was returning. Norman jolted both of the girls awake with his groan, the ribs were hurting worse than before, but he was still breathing normally which helped him to realize that he hadn’t punctured a lung yet.

“I don’t like having you running around while injured.” Coraline commented, but Norman shrugged and turned to Mabel.

“Do you know where the old railway is?” Mabel’s eyes flashed their recognition.

“That’s where he is…” Mabel sat for a moment, before pulling out, of all things, a grappling gun.

“It’s been years since this was handy.” She smiled somewhat mournfully.

“Its rather handy now.” Norman supplied in what he hoped was a helpful tone. Getting a nod all three of them jumped onto their respective vehicles, this time Mabel leading them towards the mountains.

“Trust me, I should have thought of this as a potential location. I’m just glad its not that one mine shaft with dinosaurs.” She called back, her voice carrying into the wind. Norman couldn’t imagine all of the strange things the twins had seen. They reached the cliff where the opening of the railway was easily seen and Norman pulled his breath in with a shiver.

“I just hope we get there in time…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CLIFFHANGER! Literally! PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! I'm not the type to kill off characters, maim and injure and dishearten and break? Maybe a bit but not kill! I wanted to go for a creature that hadn't been done before, so I went for one that children would never really have to worry about lol.


	5. Illusions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Norman has located Dipper and is prepared to do anything to save him, but things are never as simple as they seem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter became the conclusion of the battle, and the rest kinda became filler. I don't wanna rush the relationship between Dipper and Norman, but trust me I have plans for them to start getting even more friendly. I do bash on Ford a bit, and in his defense (not that I really think its needed) he cares a lot about the family he has, and doesn't want anything to happen to them...he's strict in his ways, but I'm gonna see what I can do with him ;). Sorry its late, the end note's detail more what went on!

Dipper could only hope they showed up soon, with metaphorical guns blazing. The succubus had returned, not even looking at him once and went into the deeper part of the cave, probably to rest after the night. It would seem that daytime was a weakness for it, which helped because that’s what it was now. Morning had risen he see as much as he wasn’t so far in the cave that he couldn’t see the light anymore.

            “Norman help me.” He muttered to himself, hoping beyond hope that they would save him. For once he didn’t know what to do, he was clothes less, tool-less and had no idea how best to defeat a succubus. With his limited knowledge, and the fact that she’d tied his arms and legs up, there wasn’t much he could do but struggle on the floor. A creak in the wood by the entrance alerted him to that direction, and he used whatever abdominal muscles he had to try and sit his upper body off of the floor. It took a moment of catching his balance, but as he glanced up the sight before him sent shivers down his spine. A skeleton walked in, moving towards him, held together by a faint yellow glow, and as it got closer, Dipper noticed that it held a small pocket knife in its skeleton hand.

            “Are you, saving me?” He asked, his voice somewhat scratchy. Without saying anything, as he realized he’d asked a skeleton a question, the being just stooped down and cut the small vines that bound Dippers hands and feet. It then gesticulated in the direction of the entrance to the railway, as if to shoo Dipper that way. He did as he was asked, and as he emerged from the entrance found Norman Mabel and Coraline standing on the middle of the rail. Immediately Norman went up to Dipper, stripping off his own shirt and handing it to him so that he had some form of clothing.

            “Is she still inside?” Norman asked. From under his white tank top it on his right side was what looked like a very nasty bruise. Dipper didn’t say anything about it, thinking that he’d find out eventually, however he accepted the shirt and nodded.

            “Coraline, can you check him out really quick?” Mabel asked the blue haired girl, who nodded and moved Dipper out of the way of the two obviously pissed off people. Mabel, while usually hard to get frustrated or annoyed, was surprisingly easy to piss off when it came to family, and Dipper was the person she was closest to. Norman’s reaction was what had Dipper confused. Why would he be just as worried as Mabel? A second after this thought occurred the succubus, looking much less attractive than she had before burst from the railway, breaking the boards that hadn’t been pried off yet.

            “You think you can waltz in here and steal my food from me?! You think you can do whatever you want you puny humans?!” She shrieked, her voice sending unpleasant shivers down Dippers spine. She’d tried invading his mind the night he’d been kidnapped by her, but found it was hard to get passed the defenses he put up for that reason. He knew he wasn’t the only person or thing that could invade dreams, and knew that a solid defense would win over the offense. When she failed she moved on for the night, planning on breaking him when she was free, however now her meal had run away.

            “What makes you think you can just take him? We are taking back what’s ours! He is not your meal!” Norman shouted, his voice getting deeper with anger. Dipper blushed slightly at the way he’d formed his sentence, but allowed his attention to fall back to Coraline.

            “Shouldn’t you take care of Norman first?” Dipper asked her quietly while his sister and perceived friend squared off against the sex demon.

            “He denied me. I know what his injury is and its bad, if he doesn’t treat it he could puncture a lung, or worse. He has a flail chest…” Coraline sighed in a frustrated way, leading Dipper to believe she’d started to grow fond of the dark haired man.

            “It’s that bad and he’s fighting?” Dipper hissed as she dabbed at one of his cuts with a torn piece of cloth.

            “He isn’t fighting alone, and he’s way more capable than you know. That skeleton that got you out was one that he summoned. He’s not your average person.” Coraline shook her head, shooting him a glance. Dipper did as well, watching as Norman rolled his shoulders defiantly, the succubus still shouting abuse about her stolen meal. Norman was squared up to her, determination in his face and something else that Dipper had never seen in Norman’s eyes. Anger. It was a second later that the succubus charged at them, and Dipper knew that the fight would be dangerous.

Norman’s POV

 He reached out and pushed Mabel back towards where the other two were and released the lighting he had in his control. It surrounded his body, filling his body with the charged energy. He used it to dart at the demon before him, faster than he would normally, taking her by surprise as his tackle sent 20,000 volts into her body. He could smell the singed hair and the wings on her back were burning slightly from the inside. It threw her back and away from him with enough time for him to take a stance. His ribs throbbed painfully, and he knew that he wasn’t going to do as well in this fight because of it, but he had to try. There was a pause, before her face appeared in front of his once again. Norman felt claws slice cleanly through some of the flesh on his chest, and knew then that he’d need to step up his fighting in order to keep her from Dipper.

            “Norman!” Dipper shouted as he stumbled slightly, the pain getting to him worse than he thought it would. Resetting himself and focusing on the succubus, he called the Earth to try and box her back into the cave, hoping that it would be good enough to at least keep her distracted for a long enough time for them to get away. It didn’t work however as she shot above his blockade with her broken wings working furiously to keep her aloft, and she nose dived right towards him.

            “Guys, get off the railway. Now!” He shouted, building a more stable bridge for them to use to get away while he squared off with the demon. He built the electricity in his body up to as much as he felt he could possibly do, and sent it spiraling at her with enough speed that she couldn’t match him. The voltage knocked her to the ground, as he panted slightly, extremely winded from the use of the energy. It was taxing on his body to continue to use the lightning, and he needed to end this soon if he wanted to be able to get Dipper home safe.

“Time to end this.” He murmured to himself, as she fell. The succubus crashed onto the already rickety railway and he advanced towards her as fast as his body would allow. Using the earth to hold her up above the railway by her legs and arms, he put his hand out and shot another bolt of lightning at her. Norman realized that this was doing little to kill her, and in a moment of distraction she caught his eyes and he felt his mind get pulled into itself.

“Norman. Norman! Dude wake up!” He heard Dippers voice, and opened his eyes. In that moment he shot up and looked around frantically, not feeling pain in his side. He was laying in a small clearing in the forest, Dippers face hovering slightly worriedly above him.

“Man, when you fall asleep you really are dead to the world.” Dipper commented with a small smirk, moving away to where Mabel and Coraline were seated.

“Where are we? Why are we outside, what happened?!” Norman cried out, confused by the change of scenery.

“We went camping instead of the movie, figured some time outside would do us some good. And Mabel said a horror movie made for a bad romantic atmosphere. I guess your nap confused you.” Coraline shrugged poking a small campfire with a stick. Norman glanced around, hoping beyond hope that he wasn’t crazy.

“But we were fighting a succubus…and you were kidnapped, and I was injured…” Norman muttered, feeling as if all that had happened was a dream.

“None of that happened Norman. You fell asleep not long after we got out here, figured you were tired so we let you.” Coraline responded. Mabel was munching on a s’more, and had yet to say anything but she nodded her head enthusiastically.

“It felt so real though.” Norman commented, racking his brain to figure out a way to check if he really was dreaming or not. He pinched his arm, feeling the pain and sighed. He looked at his hands, finding he had the appropriate amount of fingers, and pulled out his phone. He found that he could see the time, and it was the right time for what the lighting looked like outside. His mind was running at a mile a minute, and he was frantic to find the truth. He thought back to things he learned from Mabel and Dipper in the last few days that the succubus wouldn’t know.

“Hows Waddles?” He asked Mabel, hoping it would trigger something.

“Waddles has been adorable and amazing as always!” Mabel beamed, while Dipper pulled his hat off and rubbed his forehead with a sigh, and replaced the cap. This caused a phrase to run through his head.

“Just last week we fought off a Wendigo! That was weird, cause it looked just like Dipper, but he didn’t know about Dippers birthmark so it couldn’t imitate that. That’s how I knew it wasn’t my brother.” It was Mabel who said that, and in that moment Norman realized what he could do. He’d never seen Dippers birthmark, so the succubus wouldn’t be able to imitate that in his mind. He reached forward and took the cap off again, before moving the hair. Where the birthmark that Mabel said would be was smooth skin.

“I never expected a human to figure me out so quickly, but you aren’t a normal human are you.” The sultry voice resounded, and Norman was released from the illusion gasping for air. The succubus was still trapped in the earth, if barely, and Norman felt his anger rise at her, using his friends to try and trap him. It felt so real, and he allowed himself to get caught by being careless. Norman strengthened the earth that held her and stalked towards her once again, keeping his glare cleanly on her mouth, not her eyes. As he got closer however, another person shot passed him, throwing a vial of water onto her and reciting something from a book. A burst of energy rushed through the area, almost knocking Norman off of his feet, and he watched as the succubus turned to dust before his eyes. Norman’s glare was still present on his face as he focused on the person who took away target.

            “You children are so stupid! You throw off my hunt, nearly destroy any evidence I had leading me to her, and if it wasn’t for that ball of lighting from the sky I never would have found this place!” A recognizable voice came from the figure that took down the succubus, and Ford turned around to face Norman.

            “I thought I told you to stay away from my family. You’re kind brings nothing but disaster!” Ford growled. Norman would have argued, but the first wave of nausea and dizziness hit him hard, and he realized he was struggling to breath. The ribs that he’d been trying to be careful not to jolt around must have punctured his lung, and a pained gasp left his mouth as he struggled to supply his body with the necessary oxygen.

            “Norman!” Coraline’s frantic shout behind him jolted Ford out of his anger momentarily. Norman was dizzy. He couldn’t focus on what was in front of him, and he swayed slightly, trying to put his hand out to find something, anything to grab, but all he could find was air. He toppled forward, hitting the edge of the railway and rolling off the side, free falling towards the ground below. His mind started to supply him with images of his past, things he could have changed if he’d tried harder, the things he barely accomplished. In that moment he felt his life had been wasted up till then. The moment when he could protect the people he cared about was one of the two greatest moments of his life. His eyes closed as his head started to feel heavy, and he slipped into what could only be unconsciousness.

 Dipper’s POV

 Dipper grabbed Mabels pack off of her back, grabbing the grappling hook she tended to carry with her and prepared to dive off the side of the railway after Norman, but Stanford made a move to stop him.

            “You may hate him, but he saved my life. I owe him everything.” Dipper growled, jumping off and angling his body in just the way to get the least wind resistance. He caught up to the unconscious man relatively quick and shot the grappling hook at the wall, slowing their descent considerably, however they would still crash to the ground with a great thump. That was the second time in his life that he’d used the grappling hook in that same place, and he never wanted to do it again.

            “Norman, please don’t die on me, please please please don’t die.” Dipper begged, attempting to lift the other man off the ground to carry him to the nearest hospital. Gravity Falls did not have their own hospital, and so the trip would take a while unless they caught the eye of local law enforcement. That wasn’t as hard as Dipper thought, because as soon as they rounded the sign stating “Gravity Falls” on it, the cops that always sit over there found them and picked them up. In the years that have passed Blubs and Durland had learned to just go along with the weird things they saw from the Pines twins and that weird gimmicky shack they lived in.

            “Do you know what happened to him?” Blubs demanded holding the radio in his hand to inform the dispatch of the dilemma and to let a hospital know they were coming in with a critical patient.

            “A really bad accident on his bike, he broke some ribs and we think it punctured his lung. He didn’t want to go to the emergency room before, but he fell unconscious.” Dipper explained. When they didn’t question them about their state of dress, or the fact that they were both dirty and smelled as if they hadn’t showered in a while, let alone the fact that Norman had claw marks on his chest Dipper let a little of his held breath out. Norman struggled to breath, his head in Dipper’s lap, while they were on their way to the hospital, and Dipper lifted the white, now dirty and sliced, tank top up off of his friends body and nearly gasped at the sight of the bruising. It was bad, and looked like he’d been hit by a car. Dipper leaned down and pressed a kiss to Norman’s forehead, willing him somehow to be alright. Outside the emergency room a cot was ready and waiting, and some nurses were outside along with a doctor, prepared and ready to take Norman inside.

            “Describe what happened.” The doctor demanded.

            “He was riding his bike and fell onto his side really badly. Our friend who is a paramedic said it was…oh shit what did she say….flair chest? It hadn’t punctured his lung and he didn’t think it was bad but how he isn’t breathing right.” Dipper lied while holding Norman’s hand. His hand was cold.

            “Flail chest, two or more ribs broken in two or more places. If left untreated it can cause major damage. He’s lucky this wasn’t worse.” The nurse muttered, while they carted him into the ER. Not long after Ford arrived with Mabel and Coraline, and Dipper ignored him to discuss what was happening with Norman to the girls.

            “I was so worried, you really have a pair of balls to dive off a cliffside like that.” Coraline pat his shoulder, while a nurse approached them.

            “You have some injuries as well, we can treat those for you while you wait.” She offered sweetly, pulling Dipper away. It didn’t take long to treat him, however as time progressed his worry over Norman grew and grew. It was hard to wait out the time of the surgery, and in his mind Dipper knew that he would never be able to repay Norman for all that he did for him. Mabel and Coraline had been able to keep Stanford from commenting throughout the day while Norman’s surgery progressed, however the tension surrounding all of the waiting room occupants was palpable, and it didn’t help Dippers nerves in the slightest. At once there was a subtle prodding to his head, and he glanced around to see if someone was trying to get his attention, however realizing that no one was looking at him.

 Norman’s POV

 He could tell he was asleep in some way, and used that as an opportunity to try and communicate with Dipper, however he wasn’t getting through, and Norman knew that time was most definitely progressing quickly. Norman glanced around, finding that without a destination to wander to his mind really was a blank place. However knowing that he could still prod at Dipper meant that he wasn’t dead yet, so a small miracle. After what seemed like forever he finally felt Dipper start to respond to his prodding.

            “Dipper. Hey!” He called, seeing a small light and he ran towards it, not feeling any pain, his breathing normal again.

            “Norman? You’re dreaming…apparently I can read your dreams while I’m awake.” Dipper responded slowly, his face full of relief and worry at the same time.       “I’m not dead yet, obviously. What happened?” Norman asked, as Dipper proceeded to explain all that the unconscious man missed.

            “You saved my life.” Norman spoke, breathlessly.

            “After what you did for me…I still don’t feel like I’ve repaid you enough. Now wake up you fucking asshole!” Dipper ended his sentence in a raging fury, surprising Norman. He opened his mouth to say something, but felt his mind snap off and realign with his body in a most painful manner. Whatever happened it must have meant he was to wake up and keep talking to Dipper outside of their minds. He didn’t feel much pain, and as his mind started to work its way into complete consciousness, it was clouded, by what was probably a few strong hospital drugs.

            “Norman…Mrs. Babcock, Norman’s waking up!” He heard Dippers voice, and the first bought of panic rose as he realized that his mother was there.

            “Oh my boy…I’m so happy you’re alive…How could you!” Her soft and calming voice morphed suddenly into anger, and he felt a sharp sting on his cheek, pulling Norman out of his stupor and he opened his eyes to see his mother crying, hand pulling away from him.

            “DON’T YOU EVER SCARE US LIKE THAT AGAIN!” She shouted, turning away and leaving the room. He realized that his father hadn’t walked in to see him, instead standing in the hall as if he were a silent sentry. Using the remote attached to the bed Norman moved the head of his bed up and into a sitting position.

            “Who called my parents?” he asked, throat sore. Dipper and Mabel looked at each other and then Mabel shrugged.

            “Ford told us to. Said it would be better to let your folks know.” Mabel explained, she then gingerly pulled him into a hug.

            “You saved Dipper’s life...we can’t ever repay you.” She sighed. It was a little weird for Norman to see her in a serious light, however he realized she was probably very tired from the last weekends events.

            “You guys give me too much credit.” He muttered, not used to being thanked for things like that. A moment passed before Dipper leaned over and hugged him, right after Mabel let go. Norman noticed then that he still had his shirt on, but it was obvious someone had gotten him pants at some point.

            “Thank you.” Dipper murmured into his ear, and despite the situation, Norman couldn’t help the small spike of arousal in the pit of his stomach. He nodded and did his best to hug back, but found his mobility was limited slightly, and the pain returned as he did.

            “I should be thanking you as well.” Norman responded. A cold chill went through the room then, and he glanced around, knowing what that meant.

 Dippers POV

A moment passed where Norman was staring over Mabel’s shoulder, and Dipper realized that meant a ghost was in the room with them.

            “Grandma. I didn’t know you were able to visit away from your haunting town.” Norman commented, a small smile on his face. It was obvious in that moment that the person he was talking to had a significant meaning to him.

            “We should give him some space.” Dipper pushed Mabel out the door in front of him. Mabel smiled, understanding why he was being pushy, before walking past the man who introduced himself as Norman’s father.

            “Norman is awake, he’ll be alright to leave soon the doctor said.” Dipper spoke, while the other man gave him a weird look.

            “You were with him when this happened, right? I wish he’d get his head out of the clouds already. Riding his bike at god knows when. Why did we ever allow him to live on his own.” The man spoke, shaking his head. Dipper felt his anger rise in that moment, knowing that Norman was just insulted by his own father.

            “I’ll have you know that Norman was driving with me when it happened because I asked him to. When the accident happened he protected me at the cost of himself. Does that sound like someone with their head in the clouds? He is also a landowner now, and plans to start his own business as soon as construction is finished. Did you know that? He did all of this within a week of coming here. I shouldn’t have to defend him to his own father, especially if I’ve only known him for a week!” Dipper snapped, startling Perry. Mabel was providing emotional support from the sidelines, knowing that Dipper didn’t need anyone to fight his fights for him, most times.

            “This boy is right you know, Perry. You may not like it, but it seems that Norman is doing just fine without us.” Sandra spoke, giving Dipper a strange look. He held his ground then, knowing that Mabel and Norman’s own mother were behind him.

            “You think I don’t care about my own son?!” Perry shouted, storming off then.

            “Dipper, Mabel, it’s time we left them.” Ford spoke, attempting to pull his family away.

            “I want to stay with Norman. You guys go on ahead.” Dipper started to walk away, but Ford put his hand on Dippers elbow, pulling him back.

            “I wasn’t giving you an option, you should know by now that this guy has been bad luck for you both.” Ford spoke, attempting to pull Dipper along with him, but the 20 year old pulled his arm out of his great uncles grasp.

            “You want to know what has been bad luck for us? Finding that damn journal! Getting stuck with Bill! That’s been bad luck! Norman saved my life and I’ll be damned if he’s the most normal thing in this god for-fuckin’ saken town!” Dipper growled. He felt his eyes shift yellow, as they would do if Bill were controlling him. He took a deep breath and looked at Mabel, who was smiling at him and moving away from their uncle.

            “You don’t even know Norman. His abilities have saved us. If he wanted to start another apocalypse he would have done so by now, not try to go to the movies with us.” Mabel shrugged, and followed Dipper back into Normans room. Nothing would pull Dipper away from Norman at that point. He owed the man his life, and he’ll be damned if anything else happens.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This had a bit of fighting action and a pissed off Norman, but the second half of the chapter really did become filler. Please don't be too angry with me for being a bit late on it, I had to be at so many different things this last week and a half, two weddings, three birthdays and a bridal shower....it was batshit!


	6. Of Tattoos and Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath from the fight has subsided, leaving Dipper and Norman to try and discover more about each other, while watching the boundaries, maybe a little too closely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY! I didn't mean for such a long period of time to lapse between chapters, and while I'd say I have no excuse, I've been so busy with finals and work and family that I didn't have a whole lot of time to put into this! I got it done though, and while it is slightly shorter than the last ones, it has some good stuff in it.

Norman had been released from the hospital within a few days, and told to rest until his ribs were better. He knew that with Dipper and Mabel as friends however that would be difficult. Dipper was determined to do anything in his power to help Norman, while Mabel helped because she was thankful to him. It turned to the point where Dipper started crashing on Norman’s couch, helping with breakfast in the morning and he’d even started to help Norman with the construction on his tattoo parlor. The routine had taken around a week to establish, and by the end Norman could get the stitches removed. His bike was returned to him, however Dipper insisted that if he drove it to the hospital to get the stitches removed it would seem strange that there really was no damage to it.

“That makes sense, you’ll just have to take me in the golf cart.” Norman chuckled, wincing slightly as he put the jacket over his shoulders.

“I’ll take you anywhere I can get you.” Dipper muttered to himself with a small smirk on his face. He stopped then, momentarily surprised by how possessive he sounded in that second. Norman hadn’t heard him, and so they continued on to the hospital, where the nurse who removed the stitches commented on the tattoo’s that Norman had.

“I’m an artist, I designed them all myself but obviously a good portion would be difficult to apply to myself.” He chuckled back, but felt in the next moment a body press slightly against his side. Dipper was probably standing close unconsciously, but it was helping Norman to not tip over. After that the nurse seemed to finish her work faster than before with a worried expression on her face, the two went back to Norman’s building, and discussed the next course of plans.

“No matter what this building needs a new paint scheme, and I placed the order for the new work stations last night.” Norman spoke, turning to find Dipper was staring intensely at the building.

“I told you that there were no ghosts here right?” Norman reassured the other man, remembering the story he’d been told about the night Dipper and Mabel had gone with friends there.

“Oh that’s not it, I was thinking about what to do with the outside, its pretty blah.” Dipper waved his hand in front of himself, as if brushing off the past occurrence. Norman nodded, thinking the same thing. It wasn’t long before Mabel and Coraline showed up, with Coraline checking Norman’s bandages and Dipper holding back whatever remark he was going to make about her being too close to Norman. It wasn’t long before another two people joined them, one being Soos from the Mystery Hack, and the other was someone Norman had never met before.

“Whatcha doin’ here dudes?” Soos asked, his usual tone sounding amused.

“Helping.” Dipper commented. He felt his mood go south, and starting thinking that he was having a great time with Norman to himself, until everyone else showed up.

“Norman this is my friend Wybourne. We call him Wybie.” Coraline introduced the slouching man to Norman, who immediately took notice of some of the ink Wybie had. It was design work, a different style than what Norman had, but the conversation continued with Dipper glaring daggers into the back of Wybie’s head.

“I’m always interested in people’s ink. Working in this profession has made me a bit more of a freak than I already was, because now I stare at people more.” Norman chuckled. Dipper took a deep breath, relishing in the sound of the rumbling from Norman. He really shouldn’t have been feeling the way he was. Mabel and Coraline were in a relationship and Wybie was asexual, and usually went for women anyway.

“What do you guys think we should do to the exterior? I don’t want anything like the Mystery Hack.” Dipper asked, knowing that the more he spoke and took his mind of off whatever was pissing him off the better it would turn out. Soon the layout was decided, and when asked what Norman wanted to name the place it quickly became obvious that they’d have to explain some of the backstory to Wybie and Soos. Paranormal Ink, which was obviously a play off of Norman’s ability, was quite a different name for a tattoo parlor and it caused some curiosity to spike in the two newcomers. Norman shook his head, smiling at the people who’d gathered around him. He’d never been a popular guy, never had many friends, and suddenly he had those who he was willing to give his life for. It was a feeling he didn’t know how to describe. On top of his growing affection for Dipper, it was becoming difficult to stand just being friends. He wanted to touch the other man, hold him and let him know exactly how he felt, but he was willing to wait for Dipper to admit it as well.

The dream they shared hadn’t left his mind, he just didn’t know how to bring it back up to Dipper. Starting to feel tired, Norman yawned, feeling like he pushed himself a bit more than usual that day.

“I’m heading back to my apartment guys. I need a solid nap.” He turned, starting to walk back as Dipper fell into step with him.

“Mabel, I’ll see you tonight alright?” Dipper called over his shoulder, while the two girls and two other guys left the area as well.

“Sorry about them, they can be so overbearing.” Dipper spoke, fixing the cap on his head.

“Honestly I wanted some time away from everything anyway.” Norman shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets. The silence was comfortable, having grown accustomed to Normans introverted nature Dipper knew that he wasn’t avoiding conversation, just simply enjoying the company.

“You have plans with Mabel tonight?” Norman asked, opening the door for Dipper.

“Yeah, nothing big, just watching a movie at the Hack.” Dipper shrugged. He planned on staying in but Mabel insisted.

“Well, you know where I keep the spare key, but stop sleeping on my couch. You can use the spare bed. You know that.” Norman turned a small glare at Dipper. Dipper knew that, he knew that he could actually use a bed, but he was afraid that if he got any closer to a sleeping Norman that he’d automatically read the dreams, or worse climb into bed with the man. The thought had crossed an awake Dipper, and he was just glad he wasn’t a sleepwalker. It was in his lack of control that he might have messed up their dynamic.

“What are we?” Dipper blurted out. He bit his tongue almost as soon as he’d said it, but Norman had already caught on and put a thinking face on.

“Friends. Roommates. Seems we have a mutual crush on each other. Each other’s saviors. Anything else?” Norman spoke, his voice neutral but not in a cold way. He was just stating the facts. Dipper didn’t have anything to add into that statement, but Norman found it strange that Dipper didn’t dispute the crush part. Normally he’d adamantly deny the possibility, mostly like he’d done with Wendy at first as Mabel had told Norman, but the blush that spread over Dippers face made Norman start to feel impulsive. He stepped towards Dipper, who had just closed the door behind him and wrapped an arm around his lower back, pulling him closer. In the same motion he reached and pulled the cap off of Dippers head.

“You don’t mind this?” Norman asked, gauging Dippers response, which was to gulp. The younger man shook his head, unable to keep Normans eyes. Norman wrapped one of his hands around the back of Dippers neck, adding a slight pressure.

“And this?” Norman continued to ask, getting another headshake. He was enjoying the small amount of torment he was causing, but he knew he couldn’t go too far with the teasing lest Dipper start to shy away. Moving the hand on Dippers neck to his chin, he felt the small patch of hair that resided there, before moving Dipper’s head up.

“Finally, this?” He asked, his face at most 2 inches away from Dippers. Dippers eyes had dilated slightly, and his mouth fell open to say no. Norman smiled then, closing the distance and placing a gentle kiss onto Dippers lips. They were even better in person than they had been while he was dreaming, and Norman found himself falling deeper into Dippers smell. It was of pine (funny considering his name) and teakwood, musky but entirely him. He pressed Dipper back into the door, feeling the hands that didn’t know what to do before thread into his shirt. Norman pulled away slightly, hoping he hadn’t inadvertently pushed Dipper away.

“You can keep going.” Dippers voice came out in a soft whisper, and Norman looked into his eyes, seeing that he was entirely comfortable. Norman nodded, not trusting his voice. He leaned forward where Dipper accepted his kiss right away, while Norman had taken Dippers hat off to thread his fingers into the curly brown locks. Dippers hands were around Normans back, adding a light amount of pressure as he felt the tight muscles Norman had. Norman was still pressing Dipper against the wall, but he decided to turn them and lead Dipper to the couch, before pushing him down onto it and following after.

“Norma- _ah._ ” Dipper sighed, and it was exact sound that Norman had heard in the dream they’d shared. In a flash though Dipper had flipped them over and was straddling Norman’s waist. His eyes looked yellow for a second before returning to their usual brown. Norman would have been more worried had they stayed yellow but he ignored it to pull Dipper down into another kiss. He felt the Dipper relax over him, and as he kissed him, Norman ran his hands down Dipper’s back, feeling the muscles as he went, before placing his hand under Dippers shirt. He felt the passion of the kiss in his gut, sending sparks through his body as if he’d lost control of his power. Norman felt the shorter man shiver slightly at his touch, and used the opportunity to lick his lip. Dipper’s lips parted immediately, and Norman snaked his tongue in to feel as much as he could of his mouth. A small vibration from Dippers pocket pulled Norman away from the moment and he spread out on the couch comfortably while Dipper answered it.

“Hello?” Dippers voice was shaky, but he played it off well.

“Where are you? We were going to watch movies!” Mabels voice came through loud and clear, making Dipper pull the phone away from his ear slightly.

“Sorry, I lost track of time, I’ll be there soon.” Dipper sighed, hanging up on Mabel. Norman put an amused look on his face. Dipper flushed in embarrassment before standing up from Norman’s lap.

“I will be back later tonight, and I won’t sleep on the couch.” Dipper turned away, ears a brilliant shade of pink.

“That’s all I ask.” Norman chuckled, showing Dipper to the door. Dipper turned to leave, but not getting far as Norman pulled him into one last spine tingling kiss.

 

Dipper POV

 

Dipper felt like mush. He’d just spent a far longer amount of time than he’d originally thought kissing Norman on the couch, and he was still relishing in the feeling of it. Normans lips against his, his hands exploring Dippers body. He’d dreamed, literally, of the day that would happen, and found himself in awe of how much better it was in person. It wasn’t until he’d gotten up the block that the roar of an engine caught his attention.

“It will be faster if I drive you. You game?” Norman smiled, moving the plastic half faceguard away so he could be better understood. Dipper sighed, realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to get out of a ride from Norman, before accepting the second helmet, and climbing on back. He went to hold the sides of the seat, but Norman reached around behind him, pulling Dippers body into his, and forcing Dipper to wrap his arms around his waist.

“It’s safer this way.” Norman explained. Dipper nodded slightly, still apprehensive about the vehicle, but as they took off, he could only describe it as amazing. The wind through his body and the feel of the open road was beyond anything he’d imagined. The ride took less time than he’d liked, enjoying the bike more than he thought he would. Norman chuckled at Dippers struggle to get off the bike, before he removed his helmet.

“See you later.” Norman smiled, a look that caused Dippers heart to turn flips, before Dipper leaned in for a quick kiss and turned to run inside. It wasn’t until he heard the roar of the bike once more and it disappeared that Dipper realized he still had Norman’s helmet in his hands.

“So, things are going….well? I would take it?” Mabel grinned before dragging him further into the Hack. She hadn’t stopped grinning since they’d put a crappy 90’s horror movie on, and finally Dipper broke down and told her what happened, sparing most of the details.

“You’re lucky that Ford isn’t home! He would have been pissed!” Mabel spoke, pulling Waddles into her lap so she could cuddle him.

“I realize that, thank you Mabel. You think he’d have gotten over it by now, I’m not a kid anymore.” Dipper sighed, putting his hand on his head realizing he’d left his cap at Normans.

“Feels weird not having a cap on doesn’t it. You’re always covering the birthmark.” Mabel chuckled, turning her head back to the movie, which featured a man who became a giant robot. It wasn’t overly interesting compared to Dippers suddenly successful love life, but they needed something to occupy the background for noise. There was silence between the twins, but it was comfortable, as they relished in the time spent together in light of Dipper crashing at Normans most nights.

“How is Coraline?” Dipper asked, knowing that the girls had gone out for brunch that day, taking Wybie with them while he was in town as well.

“Good, they are trying to find a place to stay out here, rather than at that weird place Wybie’s aunt runs. Coraline can’t stand it anymore, and Wybie will follow her just about anywhere because she’s one of his only friends. They want me to move in with them too.” She spoke, excited at first but her voice got slightly softer as she finished her sentence.

“You know I’m not going to be upset if you did right? You’ve known them for years and I trust Coraline! We are both getting older. The only thing we need to worry about now is getting solid jobs that actually mean something to society.” Dipper sighed, thinking about the connotation of that. It had been a long time since he’d needed to worry about work, finding the journals and keeping up with them a job in and of themselves. Dipper knew that that wouldn’t fly all of their lives. Even Ford was working off of the money that Stan pulled in at the Hack, an appropriate nickname. It still wasn’t enough for the twins to move out and rely on.

“Maybe Norman will let you work for him? He might need someone to take orders and manage the store, while he does the tattooing part. Like a floor manager.” Mabel contemplated. Dipper wasn’t opposed to that idea, not only because it would bring him closer to Norman but also it would allow them to work together should the need arise on anything supernatural. It could be like a background business. The people of town had gotten slightly used to the existence of strange things, stranger things than anyone would find elsewhere. Some had even posted on the bulletin board in town about the weird occurrences. Dipper thought it would be great to use Paranormal Ink as a front for the supernatural business.

“That would be nice, I’ll talk with him the next time I get the chance. We need to really finish getting the place painted and set up before we worry about anything else though.” Dipper thought out loud.

“See, you sound like a manager already. Ah…the movie’s over. Guess you have to go home now.” Mabel grinned maniacally at Dipper, who felt a shiver go down his spine at her face. She’d always been able to use a face that suggested she was plotting something evil, while not actually making an evil face, and to this day it terrified Dipper.

“Guess what is coming up?” Mabel asked, while Dipper brushed himself off as he’d been sitting on the floor.

“What?” Dipper asked, not overly concerned by the question.

“Our birthday silly!” Mabel smiled. It was true, Dipper had forgotten his and his twins birthday, which was about a week away. Time had gone by faster than he’d thought it would.  
            “What do you plan on doing that day? Coraline wants to go to the bars, which I have no objections to, but you might want to spend the day with Norman?” Mabel grinned again, while Dipper flushed.

“We can go out together, as a group. It would be easier that way.” Dipper muttered, without thinking about it any further. He figured Mabel would want to plan something big, and while he wouldn’t mind a party, Dipper was perfectly fine doing something small with immediate friends. It was then that Dipper realized it was more than just he and Mabel in Gravity Falls. It had always been the two of them against the whole of the supernatural problems that surrounded the town, but then Coralline came around, and Norman, and from there it seemed that Dipper had more friends than he did before. It warmed his heart, but it also scared him.

“You’re projecting your thoughts Dipper. Don’t worry about them. They have already shown us that they are capable of holding their own against the ‘Evil Forces’ that lurk in the forests. You big goof.” Mabel commented. Obviously Dippers control was slipping if he projected his worries to his twin.

“You also show everything on your face.” She supplied, standing up with Waddles in her arms. Soos had shown up halfway through the conversation, however he was obviously not listening as the movie was still playing in the background.

“You know how I am Mabel. I worry about everything.” Dipper responded with a sigh and a smile, because Mabel was always telling him he worried too much.

“Yes, one would think I’ve known you for your whole life!” Mabel called as she left the room, apparently too tired to finish the movie.

“Yeah, one would think.” Dipper smiled, chuckling as Soos flinched away from the TV set.

 

Norman POV 

 

Norman had no words. Even hours after Dipper had left the apartment he couldn’t budge up anything to say. Taking one last check of his bandages, finding them clean as a whistle, he stood outside in the brisk air pulling a drag on his cigarette. He’d never expected that he’d push himself past the small shy boundary he’d placed around Dipper. It was bold of him to assume that he’d wanted to kiss the way he did, and while it was very enjoyable, and something he definitely wanted to partake in once again, Norman didn’t want to push Dipper too far. It took Norman quite awhile to convince himself that Dipper was just as excited for this as he was, mostly because he didn’t know how to react properly to it. He and Kyle had never gone anywhere passed holding hands on occasion, and only when Kyle was comfortable with it.

“This isn’t Kyle. Forget about him.” Norman muttered the first words he’d said since he’d dropped Dipper off at the Hack. Sighing out a puff of smoke Norman felt some of the concern he’d been experiencing melt away with the nicotine in his system. As he finished the last drag of his cigarette, which Mabel had affectionately dubbed cancer sticks, Norman flicked the butt away and turned back inside. Taking out one of the bottles of whiskey he’d bought the other day, he poured himself a glass, downed it in a gulp and then poured another, before sitting down on the couch.

“Long day huh?” A voice floated up behind him, and with an exasperated sigh Norman turned to find another ghost in his home.

“Why is it that once people pass on to the next world they feel that they don’t have to use their manners?” Norman asked himself out loud, quietly enough that the spirit wouldn’t hear his frustration.

“I was hoping you could relay a message to a young lady in town. Her name is Pacifica. She would be found at the large home on the other side of the downtown area. I want to tell her that I’m proud of her, no matter what course she takes in life. My name is Eloise.” The ghost then faded away, leaving Norman to write down everything that she’d said, before finishing his second glass of whiskey with a gulp.

“This is going to be a long night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's kept up with me and been patient in waiting for an update, I can't say I'm sorry enough for the delay! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and I won't let such a long time go between this one and the next!


	7. Love in its Purest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper returns to the apartment to find that Norman had been drinking a bit, but soon their time turns into something a little more than just fun. It becomes a time Dipper will never forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! I GOT WAY DISTRACTED BY CHRISTMAS, WHICH REMINDS ME ~~~MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!~~~~~ THIS SHOULD POST BEFORE MIDNIGHT SO IT WILL STILL BE CHRISTMAS! Again I'm so sorry for the delay, but the content should more than make up for it!

Dipper came home that night to find Norman sitting on the couch conversing with what he could only assume was a ghost. Taking a moment to inventory the kitchen, he found that there was an empty bottle of scotch on the counter, and a glass next to it. Safely assuming that Norman had in fact drunk the whole thing, Dipper sighed, throwing the bottle away and hiding the second one he found quickly. A moment later a pair of warm arms wrapped around him and Dipper was trapped against the counter.

            “You made it home safe, I’m glad.” Norman spoke into Dipper’s ear, not entirely turned off by the sound of his voice and the proximity. The smell of alcohol was strong, but it wasn’t the only thing he smelled. Norman had a strong smell of peppermint, and leather, as well as tobacco from an obviously recent cigarette. Dipper found himself falling into that scent, relishing in how uniquely Norman it was.

            “I’m not the drunk one.” Dipper chuckled, attempting to turn around in Normans arms but found he was pressed too tightly to the counter. Normans chest was pressed against Dippers back, and it took all of Dipper’s will power to not buck his hips back into Normans.

            “How was the movie? I’m not that drunk, so you know.” Dipper could hear and feel Norman’s smirk against his neck, causing a flutter in his breathing.

            “Boring. Crappy 90’s horror.” Dipper spoke, feeling Norman’s breath almost as if it were caressing the side of his neck, just above the collar of his shirt.

            “Pity.” Norman muttered, and Dipper’s knees virtually buckled as the lips he’d been so focused on for the last 5 hours met with the sensitive skin on the back of his neck. Dipper bit his own lip, again resisting the urge to bump his hips back into where he knew Normans were.

            “You normally like this drunk?” Dipper asked, putting a smile on his face to show Norman he wasn’t being critical.

            “No. Only with you. And I’m not that drunk.” Norman spoke through his ministrations, seeming to focus on his slow torture of Dippers nerves. Knowing that Dipper was the only one Norman seemed to have been affectionate with, at least while drunk, Dipper moved his hand up to where Normans hair was and ran his fingers through it. This elicited an immediate response from Norman, to spin Dipper around, PICK him up, and placed his butt firmly on the counter. The show of strength was impressive, but also soon after they were kissing just as passionately as they had been earlier. Norman took some liberties however to show just how passionate he could be.

            “Norman, t-the counter?” Dipper stuttered, while his dark-haired lover just hummed, while his tongue was doing marvelous things to Dippers chest. He’d always been a bit more self-conscious around other people, especially with his body. Even having gone to the point of running with the Manotaur clan when he was really young to try and coax the “manliness” out of him. A time that Dipper would readily admit he wanted to forget. Within moments hands found their way to his hips, pulling him to the edge of the counter while kneading small circles into the bone, with sent another wave of arousal through Dippers stomach. Norman had then proceeded to wrap his arms around Dippers torso, pulling him down into another kiss, before Norman pulled back slightly.

            “I don’t want to push you.” Norman spoke, his voice huskier, his eyes impossibly darker. Dippers eyes widened, as he realized that Norman really did want to take him to bed, but was waiting on his own approval. Feeling slightly mischievous Dipper pulled Norman into another kiss, not saying a word of yes or no, however he proceeded to remove his over shirt, revealing to Norman the tattoo’s that sealed away the worst demon Gravity Falls had ever seen.

            “You have such beautiful skin.” Norman murmured, pulling Dippers arm up to his mouth, kissing the marks left by the seal. Dipper pulled his arm away, pushing his fingers back through Normans hair and pulling the taller man into his grasp. Wrapping his legs around Norman, Dipper felt his own arousal rub against Normans, and all of the blood that _had_ been in his head chest and upper torso rushed to occupy a different space. Involuntarily his hips bucked, creating more friction between them. A deep growl emerged from Norman’s throat, and Dipper felt Normans hands seek the bottom of his shirt. 

            “Don’t make this so easy on me. Removing your clothes, no matter how difficult or how few, is part of my fun.” Norman looked Dipper in the eye as he spoke, getting a firm nod from the brown-haired man. Dipper never imagined he would feel this way, considering he really hadn’t felt that way around Wendy, and found that no one else really had caught his attention over the years. He’d had a boyfriend in high school, and the relationship had been fine for as long as it lasted, normal experimentations and all that, but Dipper didn’t feel anything as remotely close to what he felt for Norman. His affections had gone from a crush to what he could only call adoration and love. Neither of which he would tell Norman. Instead, a wicked idea was placed into Dippers head, something he wouldn’t have thought to try.

            “Dip, Dipper. Still with me love?” Norman spoke, his voice amused sounding, however it was the pet name that brought Dipper back to the present. Without using words to respond, Dipper projected, willingly for the first time, an image into Normans head.

 

 Norman POV

 

Norman had never felt so aroused by another human being in his life. Dipper was not only extremely responsive to touch, but his eyes flashed yellow as Norman was drawn into the image of Dipper, naked as the day he was born, laying beneath him in bed. To Norman, that was the straw that broke the proverbial camels back. Pulling Dipper with him, Norman led the shorter man into his bedroom, not bothering to flip the light on and instead shot a small bolt of electricity through the wick of a candle on the nightstand.

            “Impressive, use that trick before?” Dipper smirked, while Norman huffed with a smile.

            “Needed to practice accuracy somehow.” Norman turned his attention back to the man laying on his bed. Stripping off his own shirt he moved over Dipper and placed his elbows on either side of his ears. Using his arms to keep himself from squishing the other man, Norman began to place kisses all around his face, before moving over and pulling Dippers right earlobe in between his teeth. Dipper’s hands found Norman’s back, running his nails, not painfully, down either side. Norman felt another growl in his throat before he rolled his hips forward, catching Dipper off guard by the new sensation and pressure. Dipper ran his hands down Normans back again, while Norman turned his face towards Dippers throat, biting the sensitive skin and leaving a red welt. Norman liked all of the places he bit, soothing the skin before he moved down to the shorter man’s collarbone. Dippers hands had found Normans hair, and as Normans mouth moved, Dippers grip got tighter.

            “You have too much on.” Norman growled finally, pulling Dipper up off of the bed just enough to remove his t-shirt. As Norman did this, Dipper began to work at the buttons on Normans pants, slipping them down over the black boxers that Norman had on, while running his hands over the taller man’s ass as he did. Norman bucked his hips forward as Dipper gripped his ass, using the movement to further his pants off, until he could flick them off the bed with one leg. Norman worked his hands under Dipper, pushing his hands below the waistline of his jeans before pulling Dipper up into him. A gasp left Dippers throat as he wrapped his strong arms around Norman and increased the pressure slightly using his strength.

            “T-tu-take them…off!” Dipper gasped out under Norman’s mouth, as he’d moved back to claim Dippers lips. Norman felt the grin grow on his face and he complied with Dippers exclamation, knowing that if he wanted this to progress as it was, he’d need to keep Dipper from losing interest. Slowly and tantalizingly he ran his hands under the jeans, pulling them down as he moved, however taking his time. Moving his hands to the front of Dippers body, he felt the other man’s erection grow under his gentle touch, and a groan escaped from Dippers throat. Norman’s grin was impossibly growing even more, feeling Dippers body respond to him. Norman’s own cock throbbed as he moved the clothing off of Dippers legs.

            “Hurry up you ass!” Norman heard Dipper gasp into his hand, which he’d placed over his mouth in an attempt to stifle his own noises. Norman growled, and upon losing his own patience yanked the jeans down and clear of Dippers feet. Rising back up to kiss Dipper, Norman placed his hand on the other boys stomach, rubbing small circles that were getting closer and closer to the tented boxers Dipper still wore.

            “Y-you tease too much.” Dipper moaned out, and Norman smirked, knowing it was turning them both on.

            “I can’t have this go too fast, or it’ll be over so soon.” Norman purred in response, catching Dippers lower lip in his teeth, biting gently. Dipper shuddered, before flipping Norman back onto the bed, and pulling the black boxers down off of Normans body. Norman blinked, surprised by the sudden move but going along with it, grinning as he did. Dipper was perched over Normans legs, having to maneuver the boxers under him and behind him as he moved himself up and rubbed his own erection against Normans. A gasping breath left Dippers throat, and Norman grabbed both of their dicks in his hand, one still clothed, and began to stroke them both simultaneously.

            “Take these off.” Norman demanded, his eyes rolling up and closing as he spoke. Dipper complied, pulling his boxers off, leaving both men nude against the other. Norman reached to the bedside table, sliding open a drawer and pulling out a bottle.

            “On your back.” He told Dipper, who complied again. Dipper rolled over, allowing Norman to place himself between his legs.

 

Dipper POV  

 

Dipper felt his breath hitch, as Norman pulled his legs around the slim and taught waist.

            “Have you done this before?” Norman asked, his voice deep and husky, but steady. Dipper hesitated a moment before shaking his head. He’d never had sex before, and for some reason it bothered him that Norman seemed far more prepared than him.

            “Have you?” Dipper asked, knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer.

            “Not with someone I love.” Norman answered, and in that moment Dipper realized what had been said to him. His face flushed and he felt his smile grow. Any jealous thoughts fled his mind.

            “I’m not going to rush this. This is important.” Norman spoke, his voice low. He used the bottle on the nightstand before rubbing his hands together slightly.

            “This might be a little cold. It will warm up.” Norman said sounding apologetic, and soon Dipper felt a small pressure at the entrance to his ass. The sensation was almost overwhelming, as the pressure grew, he found himself trying to adjust where he was laying to accommodate the new feeling.

            “Relax love, please relax.” Norman cooed, as Dipper did his best to calm down, forcing his body to relax. As he did, the uncomfortable feeling of a finger inside of him started to turn into pleasure. Norman started to move a little, adding another finger to the first one, and eliciting startled gasp/moan from Dipper, who couldn’t place the feeling, but knowing it was something he enjoyed greatly.

            “That’s it love. That’s it.” Norman coached, rubbing his erection against Dippers inner thigh as he stretched out his inside. Dipper bucked against Norman’s hands, and found himself moaning for more even as Norman fit a third finger.

            “Just a little longer love.” Norman smiled over Dipper, who was starting to lose himself in the pleasure of the moment, before Norman removed his fingers gently, and applied a little more lubrication to himself.

            “Are you ready?” Norman asked, looking Dipper in the eye and waiting.

            “Y-yes.” Dipper sighed, finding it even more endearing that Norman was waiting for him to give his consent before continuing. Norman repositioned his body closer to Dippers, before Dipper felt more pressure, and then pleasure as Norman slide into Dippers body. Dipper gasped, knowing that Normans dick would feel different from his fingers.

            “A-are you, fuck, are you ok?” Norman stuttered out. It was obvious he was trying to control his body, even as his hips rocked slightly against Dippers. Norman had mistaken Dippers gasp of pleasure as one of pain.

            “Move. Pl-please keep moving.” Dipper moaned through his teeth. That was all Norman needed, because he started to move his hips forward and back, starting slow to working into a rhythm. As he did, Norman gripped Dippers ass, pulling him up and then placing a pillow beneath him.

            “It’ll help,” Norman explained. Dipper nodded, before grabbing Normans face and pulling him down into a kiss. Norman was able to keep thrusting while still kissing Dipper, and they held each other as they made love. Dipper could feel his climax coming, like a coil in his stomach that was waiting to unfurl. He felt his breathing come quicker and as he heard Norman above him he knew that the taller man was close as well. Norman’s pace quickened, and Dipper was rocked harder than before as Norman got closer and closer to his finish.

            “Norm-ahhhh!” Dipper gasped out as he came, and within seconds Norman slammed into Dipper one last time. Dipper could feel Norman pulsing within him, as Dipper was covered in his own cum.

            “You look so lovely.” Norman sighed, reaching down to kiss Dipper once again. Dipper found himself at a loss for words, unable to speak. His breath was uneven, and as he moved his body twinged slightly in pain. It wasn’t unbearable, and even then it was less pain than when he’d fought off many of the creatures and beings of Gravity Falls forests.

            “Fancy a shower?” Norman asked with a smile. Dipper nodded and went to stand up, however he was helped by Norman who led Dipper to the bathroom.

            “So that was your first time huh? Glad it was me, honestly.” Norman muttered to himself. Dipper glanced at the taller man.

            “What was yours like?” Dipper asked, finding his voice finally.

            “Awkward. It was a teenage fling that ended up falling apart because the guy moved away. We were both loners and took solace in each others company. He and I knew each other for a little while before getting together. I’d just started my sophomore year of high school. It wasn’t anything overly serious anyway.” Norman spoke.

            “How did you figure out you liked guys?” Dipper found himself asking. Norman regarded him for a moment before chuckling.

            “I never really had much interest in girls. Especially since my experience with Aggie, I could never look at one the same way. It helped when I found myself glancing at the other guys in the school locker rooms when changing for P.E. It became so normal for me that when another guy found himself interested in me, I realized I was interested as well.” Norman answered. Dipper nodded. His story wasn’t as interesting.

            “I used to have a crush on Wendy. Like a huge crush.” Dipper spoke, running his hands through his sweat-dampened hair.

            “I noticed.” Norman chuckled again, pressing a kiss to Dipper’s mouth before continuing to turn the water on.

            “I finally got a date with her, but by the time it was over, I realized that I thought of her as one of my guy friends. Not that I had that many when I was 15. I had thought the day would be more magical, but it wasn’t. In fact it was like any other day that we’d spent hanging out. Not long after I started to pay attention to how I saw people. Guys were interesting, and somewhat alluring, while women were boring and somewhat like my sister. I had a harder time figuring out my particular tastes than Mabel did. In all honesty she was the biggest flirt in our teens. Always flirting with guys and trying to get a boyfriend. Until she met Coraline, and all the effort she’d spent on hitting on men, went straight to dating Coraline.” Dipper found himself ranting. He’d never really gotten far with another guy, only kissed, and even then it was sloppy compared to the exquisite way that Norman used his mouth and tongue.

            “She would.” Norman laughed outright, and Dipper could imagine he was picturing the brown haired girl dropping everything she was doing for Coraline.

            “What does this make us?” Dipper asked, finding he had the worst timing for his questions. Norman shot him an amused half-smile before grabbing towels from the cabinets.

            “Lovers.” He answered. Dippers breath hitched in his throat at the word. He’d heard Norman say he’d loved him earlier, but to keep hearing him say the word love, it was even more incredible.

            “Are we moving too fast?” Dipper asked himself out loud. Norman seemed to actually consider the question before he responded.

            “Maybe, but if you love someone, sometimes it doesn’t take all that long to figure that out. I’ve never felt this way about anyone, and its something from my heart.” Norman pulled Dipper into a hug, pressing his head into his shoulder with a hand. Dipper relaxed into the hug, finding himself staring at one of the many tattoos that covered Normans body.

            “What’s you’re next tattoo going to be?” He asked moving away from the topic that could go south quickly if not well monitored.

            “I have a few ideas, but I’d need to find someone to do them, because I where I want them is a bit difficult to maneuver on myself.” Norman chuckled, referring to his back, where there was indeed some clear skin.

            “I think I’d like to get a few more, maybe some that don’t have a second purpose.” Dipper sighed, running his hands over the seals on his arms. He’d found himself projecting and dream jumping way easier lately, something that hadn’t happened since the first year he’d had the seals. That was when Bill’s soul was still putting up a fight.

            “Once we get the shop better set up, I’ll do one for you free of charge. That is of course if you are still down for it when that time comes.” Norman smiled, stepping into the shower. Dipper followed him in, and in that moment he realized that he really did love Norman.

            “I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone enjoys this! I swear this was the hardest chapter to write, because legitimately I don't have a penis, so that sensation will always be foreign to me. I tried my best however, and this was created! Let me know, and if anyone has constructive criticism I'm open to it!


	8. Days Go By

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Norman goes to work and hires an unexpected artist, while Dipper and Mabel deal with an annoying enemy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK BITCHES! Excuse my absence, its been hell for me thus far, and I went through some of the worst writers block I've ever experienced. On top of losing a family member and having school come back to bite me in the ass, I finally sat my ass down and got something out. This is more of a filler for getting the story going again, so the next chapter should be longer and have more details pertaining to future events. I PROMISE!

If it weren’t for the fact that they’d stayed in bed together the rest of the night, Dipper would have sworn last night was a dream. Waking up he was slightly sore, which was the first indicator that it was in fact real. Once he was more awake, he realized that Norman was asleep next to him, dead to the world in dream land. A sigh escaped his lips as he glanced at the handsome and lean face of his lover. Never in his life had he imagined that he’d end up with a guy like Norman. First of all, he’d always sort of hoped to be the top in the relationship, but after having been taken care of by Norman he realized he didn’t mind being bottom, although the opportunity would be nice to have. Glancing at the clock, Dipper pulled himself to the edge of the bed, realizing he should probably wake up and get some stuff done today.

“You don’t have to go so quickly you know, morning after cuddling is something I’ve always wanted to try.” Norman’s voice came from the pillow, where he was faced down.

“As great as that sounds, we have to receive the station supplies you ordered today, which means putting the parlor together.” Dipper chuckled, patting Norman on the back as the taller man groaned.

“Since when were you the adult here.” Norman asked, pulling his face out of the pillow to glance at him.

“Mostly since I’m excited, and because you aren’t a morning person.” Dipper smiled, pulling his boxers on and leaving the room to find his sweat pants.

“Go for your run, when you get back I’ll have a pot of coffee, and a drawn up sketch of the layout for Paranormal Ink.” Dipper threw a shirt at his new boyfriend, who still looked like he was asleep even though he was standing. Norman nodded, pulling the shirt on while searching mindlessly for his own boxers and running pants. Dipper never participated in the runs, mostly because he hated running, but also because he found Norman had a certain stamina that he couldn’t keep up with. While he did his own form of workout by taking care of cases with Mabel, he never went out of his way to exercise. When he first realized that Norman actually went out and worked out he was slightly surprised, especially because the man was a smoker, and it didn’t seem logical that he had great endurance.

“I’ll see you when I get back.” Norman muttered, kissing Dipper on the lips before walking out the door with his phone and headphones. Before he could move to start the coffee, Dippers phone went off, a ringtone he’d picked randomly from a TV show he’d been watching about a man who took his grandson on outlandish and dangerous adventures, scaring him slightly.

“Good morning Sir Dipping Sauce!” Mabel’s ever cheerful voice rang through phone.

“Hey Mabel. What’s up?” Dipper asked, feeling a small headache coming on.

“I can’t just randomly call my twin brother up after he had some scandalous fun last night?” Mabel asked, her tone obviously amused.

“I-How?” Dippers voice caught in his throat as the blush he was fighting off rose drastically.

“You butt dialed me right before I heard ‘on the counter?’ I figured it was a bad time so I hung up.” Mabel sounded like she could barely contain her laughter.

“Oh god…oh my god. Oh…” He groaned, feeling like he wanted to slam his head against the wall, but knowing it would make his headache worse he resisted the urge.

“Don’t be so dramatic Captain Buzzkill. Its not like I’m going to judge you. Coraline is an interesting lover, if you catch my drift.” Mabel spoke, changing her tone slightly.

“I don’t need to know about your love life with Coraline. If you’re happy that’s great just don’t tell me.” Dipper practically shouted into the phone.

“I won’t, geebus. I did have a reason for calling though, we have a case involving another gremoblin.” Mabel continued laughing, even through the seriousness of the case.

“I’ll leave Norman a note for when he gets back.” Dipper nodded to himself, pulling out a pen and paper from the drawer next to him in the kitchen.

“By the way, have you told Norman that Dipper isn’t your actual name?” Mabel asked, getting a small reaction from him. He’d gotten so used to being called Dipper by everyone over the years that he forgot his actual name. His own parents had called him Dipper.

“No, I hadn’t even thought about it. No one calls me by my name so I actually forgot that Dipper wasn’t what I was called from birth.” He muttered, thinking about how Norman would react.

“You should tell him. Maybe he’ll call you by your real name during sex.” Mabel snorted into the phone and hung up before Dipper could shout at her.

“What was that about? You’re muttering to yourself.” Norman asked, scaring Dipper out of his thoughts.

Normans POV

  
He’d walked into the apartment to what sounded like Dipper on the phone, and overheard the tail end of the conversation, to which Dipper sounded frustrated.

“It was nothing, Mabel called about a case. You’ll be able to handle the shop without me right?” Dipper asked, glancing at him. Norman met his eyes, knowing he was smiling.

“Yes, I’ll be fine at my own shop. Take care of what you need to with Mabel, we can work out the rest of the details later. It’s not like we won’t have Soos and Wybie and Coraline to help us later.” Norman chuckled, shaking his head at his boyfriend.

“I know, I’m just making sure.” Dipper shrugged.

“Mabel calls you a worrywart all the time, and I can see why. Seriously, I got this.” Norman pulled Dipper into his arms, kissing his forehead where he hadn’t put a hat on yet.

“We shouldn’t be all day, we’ve dealt with this creature before. Annoying, but not that dangerous. Just stupid to be honest.” Dipper shrugged, hugging him back.

“Why don’t you tell Mabel about having Coraline and Wybie move into these apartments? I just thought about it, but there are still vacancies because not a lot of people move into this town. They would probably get a good price, and Coraline can work in town. Wybie can work for me too, maybe apprentice at some point. It’ll help to have one more artist working for me than just myself.” Norman smirked when Dipper looked like he was actually considering it. It would be nicer for Mabel and Coraline, not having to travel so far to just spend a weekend together.

“Knowing them, they’d do it too. That’s a great idea!” Dipper smiled, running back into the spare room to grab better clothing.

“I’ll see you later! I’ll let you know if you will be having neighbors soon!” Dipper kissed him goodbye, and darted out the door, taking the golf cart back to the Mystery Hack. Norman sighed, glancing around his apartment, attempting to piece together where his life was. Taking a moment to settle his thoughts, he pulled his cell out and dialed his sister.

“Hey! How is it going! Are you alright now?! Mom and Dad told me about your accident, I can’t believe you almost died, again! It wasn’t a car accident either, was it.” Courtney stated, her tone obviously not amused.

“It was an accident. But not a car, you’re right.” Norman answered, hesitant to tell his very protective sister about falling off of a cliff.

“Honestly Norman, if you don’t want to tell me, that is fine. I won’t push you. BUT. If I have to hear from Mom about you nearly dying again, I will drive up to Gravity Falls myself to kick your ass!” Courtney shouted into the phone, causing Norman to pull it away from his ear.

“I understand Court. I really do. I didn’t mean to keep it from you, I just got so caught up in what I was doing here.” Norman sighed, putting the phone on speaker so that he wouldn’t be subjected to anymore yelling directly. He could almost hear her nod through the phone.

“Mom told me about your friend shouting at Dad in the ER about how busy you’ve been trying to start something for yourself. A tattoo parlor?” She stated, to the sound of clinking dishes in the background.

“Yeah, I bought the place, and have already started setting up the interior and the management. Just need some people to work with as far as artists. I have one person in mind already.” Norman smiled, thinking about how well his business could bloom.

“I also hear about a certain boy you’ve taken interest in? How is that going?” Courtney asked, a smile in her voice. Norman somehow knew it was going to end up here. He knew that his parents wouldn’t hold back from talking to Courtney about his former lack of a love life. They’d kept tabs on him in his recovery, calling every so often and sometimes bringing him and Dipper meals. Once they’d realized that Dipper was helping take care of Norman, his mother would bring more food to accommodate both of them.

“That would be Dipper. We actually just talked about ‘us’ yesterday.” Norman answered keeping details vague but enunciating the us to show that he meant them together.

“I’m happy for you, but don’t let this one be like Kyle. Don’t keep yourself from this one.” She sighed into the phone, sounding sad for his sake.

“He isn’t, we’ve had this discussion already, before getting together. He’s got a history of his own with the weird and uncommon, so while it was a surprise, he wasn’t put off by me.” Norman smiled at the thought of Dipper being comfortable enough around him even with the constant spirits around. Courtney made a sound of happiness, one that Norman took to mean she was content with his answer. Their conversation continued for a few minutes, before Norman glanced at the clock and knew it was time to go to work. He said his I love you’s and proceeded to the bathroom for a shower.

The drive to work was peaceful, and regardless of the incidents and mishaps that had happened in Gravity Falls, he couldn’t find too much fault in the town. It was peaceful, when it wasn’t being attacked by random monsters, and for the most part, he was growing to appreciate his parents idea to move. Pulling up to the shop, he glanced around outside just to make sure the truck with the salon supplies hadn’t arrived yet before unlocking the door. Inside it was laid out relatively open, with a desk at the very front to speak with a receptionist or a manager. The layout had stations on the wall to the left of the desk, following to the back wall before being split by a Japanese style paper screen. At least, that was the idea, however he was currently waiting on his order, which contained the chairs, the stations and a bunch of the needed ink colors. Each artist normally had their own guns, so Norman knew he wouldn’t have to order that, but supplies like the ink and needles he’d need to purchase in bulk, due to sanitary and health reasons.

“Hey, I saw a posting about a tattoo artist job here?” A voice called from the front. Norman turned to find a woman standing within the doorway, long blue hair pulled away from her face by a flower shaped hairband. Her arms were covered in tattoos, one of which made her arm and hand resemble a skeleton.

“Yeah, I didn’t actually know there were postings, I guess my partner got the jump on me there. I’m Norman Babcock. Owner and artist.” Norman walked over, putting his hand out for the woman to shake.

“Emily. I can provide a resume if you want.” She offered, pulling her large bag forward. She was dressed in a white sundress with a pair of white sandals under it, with blue eye shadow and lipstick.

“That’s alright, a portfolio if you have one would be good though.” Norman smiled, putting the box cutters he was using down and brushing himself off of the dust he still needed to sweep up. Emily nodded and pulled a sketchbook and a binder out of her bag.

“This has concepts that I haven’t put into ink yet, and this is the projects I worked on before moving out here.” Emily placed them on the counter near Norman, and watched patiently while he flipped through both. It was obvious that her experience was with black and whites, along with some portrait work.

“This is awesome, we would love to take you on! I can say it will be a little while before we get anything going. Also, I have to add this, should you choose to work here, it is also a cover for another business. My partner, his sister and her girlfriend and I are all involved in a paranormal investigative business. I’m what you would call a necromancer, while Dipper, my partner, is a dream reader and the guardian of Gravity Falls. If you don’t want to get involved, or don’t want to work here while we are doing this is as well, this does not imply that we are going to be dragging you into it. I’m rambling here aren’t I? Basically, if you don’t want to work here with us because we are crazy, that’s entirely up to you, but I am offering you a job as an artist.” Norman stumbled over his words, realizing that he burst out with all of the details of their business, and personal information about him and his partner that he wasn’t even willing to share with Dipper right away. Emily’s eyes got wide as he turned away cursing himself for his stupidity.

“Well. That was shocking. At least I’ll fit in then.” She spoke, waving her hand in front of her in a calm and dismissive manner. Norman turned to look at her in surprise.

“What?”

“I said I’ll fit in. I may not look it right now, because the curse was fixed slightly, but I died a long time ago, and was cursed to be a living zombie for the rest of my life. I’ll spare most of the details, but I died when I was abandoned on my wedding night, and it cursed me.” Emily chuckled, brushing her hair away from her face slightly, revealing a hole in her cheek. Norman sputtered for a moment before gulping.

“No kidding…” He muttered, surprised that she admitted to it, and that he seemed to attract the weird and paranormal.

“Well, ironically, welcome to Paranormal Ink.”

**Author's Note:**

> That wasn't so bad for my first fic, I hope people like it and don't judge me too hard. I have the next chapter finished already so I'll get that up next Monday for everyone. I'm going to try and update this as frequently as I can.


End file.
